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THE LINK

Gojira

Tech/Extreme Prog Metal


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Gojira The Link album cover
3.61 | 81 ratings | 2 reviews | 11% 5 stars

Excellent addition to any
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Studio Album, released in 2003

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. The Link (5:05)
2. Death of Me (5:46)
3. Connected (1:20)
4. Remembrance (4:59)
5. Torii (1:49)
6. Indians (3:57)
7. Embrace the World (4:37)
8. Inward Movement (5:49)
9. Over the Flows (3:05)
10. Wisdom Comes (2:22)
11. Dawn (8:01)

Total Time 46:50

Line-up / Musicians

- Joseph Duplantier / lead vocals, guitar
- Christian Andreu / guitar
- Jean-Michel Labadie / bass
- Mario Duplantier / drums

With:
- Laurentx Etxemendi / effects

Releases information

Artwork: Joseph Duplantier

CD Gabriel Editions ‎- BYCD2 (2003, France)
CD Listenable Records ‎- POSH067 (2005, France) Remastered

LP Listenable Records ‎- POSH184 (2012, France)

Digital album

Thanks to TheProgtologist for the addition
and to projeKct for the last updates
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GOJIRA The Link ratings distribution


3.61
(81 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(11%)
11%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(38%)
38%
Good, but non-essential (37%)
37%
Collectors/fans only (10%)
10%
Poor. Only for completionists (4%)
4%

GOJIRA The Link reviews


Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by UMUR
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
4 stars "The Link" is the 2nd full-length studio album by French progressive/groove metal act Gojira. The album was released through Boycott/Next Music in April 2003. Itīs the successor to "Terra Incognita" from 2001. The 2005 remastered Listenable Records re-release of the album is slightly different from the original version, as some intros/outros have been changed.

"Terra Incognita" was a rather typical debut release, as it featured material which were quite diverse and inconsistent in style and quality. It made for a raw and unpolished first impression of Gojira, and while "The Link" is not 100% consistent in style and quality either, itīs audible that Gojira have settled a bit more on a personal sound. The raw yet at times semi-melodic singing style is in place, the heavy angular riffs and rhythms in unconventional time signatures, the atmospheric sections, and the environmental/social issue lyrics are there too. Tracks like "The Link" and "Death of Me" could just as well have been featured on the next couple of albums, but as mentioned above the band hadnīt yet settled 100% into their own personal style, and tracks like "Over the Flows" and "Wisdom Comes" (which is the re-recorded title track from their 2000 demo) are relatively far removed from what Gojira would produce on their succeeding releases. That makes for a diverse but also a bit of an unfocused listen, and itīs probably an aquired taste if stylistic inconsistency is considered a strength or a flaw. In this case I tend to go with the latter opinion, because to my ears some of the tracks disrupt the overall flow of the album.

When that is said "The Link" is still a very impressive sophomore album by Gojira. The album features a professional, powerful, and well sounding production, the musicianship is on a high level on all posts, and the songwriting has improved greatly since the debut, so upon conclusion "The Link" is a high quality release although the adventurous ideas sometimes affect the flow of the album (which is especially the case with the last couple of tracks on the album). A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)

Review by Necrotica
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Colaborator
4 stars Something I've always found a bit perplexing about The Link is that there's not much backstory behind it. Gojira's debut Terra Incognita has plenty of interesting tidbits to its name, such as how frontman Joe Duplantier lived in a secluded cabin for two years while coming up with inspiration for the record, or how the interlude "04" was intended by Joe and his brother Mario to be a birthday present for their mother. But The Link is? just The Link. Even the cover art - while indicative of the more tribal elements on the record (we'll get to that) - is very unassuming. As such, its popularity and significance are often dwarfed by the records that sandwich it. Terra Incognita is the brutal and aggressive fan-favorite debut, and From Mars to Sirius is the breakthrough album that brought them significant acclaim in the wider metal community. But that doesn't mean we should be forgetting about The Link.

Not in the slightest. On top of being a necessary stepping stone for Gojira's progression, it's also quite possibly the strangest and most experimental record of theirs to date. You'll find the usual helping of groovy chugs and double bass worship, but it's all topped off with the aforementioned tribal elements as well as a more "mystical" overall vibe. Right from the title track, you're thrown into an otherworldly environment full of droning vocal inflections, hypnotic grooves, and wood block percussion; suddenly, the world crafted by Terra Incognita has expanded and become an even more diverse place to explore. Death metal sections are still present on The Link but they're used much more sparingly this time around to make room for an expanding palette of influences. Whether it be the beautiful ambient interlude "Torii", the doom metal-inspired riffs of "Inward Movement", or the lengthy post-metal mini-epic that is "Dawn", the unpredictability of The Link's tracklist goes a long way in describing its appeal to anyone who's a bit bored with the current iteration of the band's sound.

Yet the surprise comes in just how well the songs flow into each other. You'd think so many disparate elements being put together would cause some massive consistency issues, but such is not the case with The Link. Even at this stage, Gojira were great at knowing what transitions and dynamics to use at the right times. A perfect example would be the one-two-three punch of "Connected", "Remembrance", and "Torii". Technically, only one of these is a full-length song; however, all three of them flow into each other so well that you'd might as well treat it as one single eight-minute track. "Connected" opens up with some light tribal drumming that opens the gates for the death metal fury of "Remembrance"; in turn, the amazing breakdown of "Remembrance" fades out to set the stage for the lovely "Torii" to take place. Meanwhile, you can perceive "Wisdom Comes" as the band letting out their final blast of death metal aggression before the expansive and slow-moving "Dawn" moves in to bring The Link to a fitting close. While I'd argue From Mars to Sirius is even more well-constructed because it uses a concrete narrative to tie the songs together, this album is no slouch either.

As one would expect from a Gojira album, the performances here are absolutely stellar. Joe and lead guitarist Chrisian Andreu have wonderful chemistry together, especially on the heavier tunes. "Wisdom Comes" is especially noteworthy, as the duo perform dual tremolo-picked harmonies to create a sinister vibe that compliments the intense riffs nicely. Mario and bassist Jean-Michel Labadie are also perfectly locked-in on The Link, providing just the right balance of groove and technicality for those heavy songs while showing incredible restraint on the softer ones. In a 2005 interview with Hard 'n' Heavy Magazine, Mario said the sessions for the album represented "a period during which I wanted to play fast: I was starting to master well the grind parts and the double bass pedal". This is definitely evident in fast cuts such as "Remembrance" and "Wisdom Comes", which feature the most impressive double bass work and rapid-fire blastbeats that he'd ever played up to this point; the fact that the rest of the band could keep up and hold their own so well against his drumming is pretty damn impressive.

Admittedly, I'm quite tired of The Link being considered the red-headed stepchild of Gojira's catalogue (well, according to the fanbase, it's either this or Magma). It has a plethora of fantastic songs, a unique atmosphere, the most experimental writing of the band's career, and some of their most technical and intricate playing to top it off. It set the stage perfectly for Gojira's heyday, and it remains an incredible record in its own right.

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