FROM MARS TO SIRIUS

Without a doubt one of the heaviest metal bands in the progressive scene nowadays, France's premier extreme quartet Gojira's real breakthrough was this album; the conceptually geared 'From Mars To Sirius'. Drawing inspiration and their topic of interest from the looming modern problem of ecological preservation, Gojira has developed their death metal sound into something with a much grander scope. While the band's next release 'The Way Of All Flesh' would improve and further develop upon the sound of Gojira, 'From Mars To Sirius' stands as being a landmark in French metal, and will be for decades to come.

While the crushing guitar and rhythm sound here could be compared to the tumultuous origins of the universe, Gojira manages to harness such a ferocious sound and channel it into something that is moreoften memorable and impressive than not. With the opening behemoth 'Ocean Planet' showing little hesitation to jump into the trademark primordial riffage that drives throughout most of the album. To give a much fresher sound to the music however, there are plenty of more moderate moments, and atmospheric soundscapes behind the main work, that give 'From Mars To Sirius' a stylistic similarity to some of Devin Townsend (of Strapping Young Lad)'s career work.

Dealing with a profound real-world topic through some aspects of fantasy, Gojira's sludgy take on 'From Mars To Sirius' is filled with small details in the production, but is quite straightfoward in terms of it's sound and uniformity, especially when compared to things Gojira have achieved after this point. While the style is done very well, some tricks (such as making the guitar squeal in between breakdowns) are a bit overdone. The songwriting here and delivery are still for the most part, quite excellent. Despite being quite inventive with the way they craft the music, there are still many songs that fit the anger and call for change into as little as five minutes.

As has been said before, the album does sound quite similar throughout, giving the album a nice flow, although some unexpected moments of variety would have been the strong songwriting here even better. The only song that does not stand out as being excellent is 'In The Wilderness,' which while engaging enough, lacks any ideas that distinguish it as a song of it's own. However, this album from the French death metallers is surprisingly consistent, and with time, I would imagine that popular appreciation for this piece will only serve to grow in the metal community.

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