WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO A NORTH AMERICAN TOUR BY GOJIRA, THE DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT, AND THE ATLAS MOTH?

 Metal News  5 Responses »
Oct 212012
 

THis news is way too fucking awesome to wait until tomorrow for posting. Thanks to Lambgoat, I’ve just seen the news that Gojira, The Devin Townsend Project, and The Atlas Moth are teaming up for an early 2013 tour of North America. And I used to think men couldn’t have multiple orgasms.

I’m still sort of in disbelief that someone was smart enough to pull these three bands together on a single tour. It’s clearly going to be a huge profile upgrade for The Atlas Moth to be tagging along with the likes of Gojira and DT, and it will likewise be a boon to the many fans who’ll get a chance to hear them for the first time.

And the opportunity to see Gojira and DT sharing the same stage . . . well, that’s something I’ll spend the next three months salivating about. Given how much I drool on even a normal day, this is going to be embarrassing.

The tour was apparently exclusively announced during Full Metal Jackie’s show Saturday night (October 20), and tickets are supposed to go on sale October 26 and 27.

The dates and places as reported by Lambgoat are after the jump. I haven’t yet seen any other official announcements. Continue reading »

IT’S FRIDAY, SO IT MUST BE TIME FOR A NEW GOJIRA LYRIC VIDEO: “LIQUID FIRE”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Oct 122012
 

Gojira have produced another lyric video for a track from L’Enfant Sauvage. This time the song is “Liquid Fire” and the visual accompaniment is a montage of really excellent live performance photos.

The song is really excellent, too, including the lyrics. Not a bad way to end our posts for this work week. Of course, we will have some other kind of ear wreckage ready for tomorrow morning.

Video after the jump . . . . Continue reading »

GOJIRA: “EXPLOSIA” LIVE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Sep 282012
 

As I mentioned earlier this week, I’m in the middle of a work-related trip that isn’t leaving me much blog time, and things won’t get back to normal until I get back to Seattle on Sunday night.  I do plan to catch up on what I’ve missed, as best I can, between now and Monday.

Here’s one thing I missed: Yesterday, Metal Sucks exclusively premiered a video of Gojira performing “Explosia” live in New York City last month. By the time I realized the video was out, the band had posted it on YouTube, so you can check it out here after the jump.

The video syncs the album track of “Explosia” to the performance footage (and accelerates some of the frames in a way that was fun to see). I go back and forth, but today I think “Explosia” is my favorite track on L’Enfant Sauvage, so any excuse to hear it again is welcome. Continue reading »

GOJIRA: AN “EXPLOSIA” LYRIC VIDEO

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Sep 072012
 

Gojira have now released a lyric video for “Explosia”, the first track on L’Enfant Sauvage. The visuals are not fancy. In fact, you’re looking at them right now (except for the words).

The photography, which is beautiful, is by some guy named Mario Duplantier.

Any excuse to listen to “Explosia” again, right? That’s my attitude. Watch/listen after the jump. Continue reading »

MY OLYMPICS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Jul 272012
 

I watched some of the opening ceremonies from London. Some of it was cool, like the cascade of lights falling from those big gold rings in the sky. But I gave up not long after Mr. Bean accompanied the orchestra on the theme song from Chariots of Fire.

I decided if I was going to watch spectacle, with big throngs of people, lots of lights, and explosions of sound, I should at least watch something with good fuckin’ music going on. So I watched these instead:
 


Continue reading »

WELL, FUCKITALL: GOJIRA’S TOUR WITH LAMB OF GOD AND DETHKLOK IS KAPUT

 Metal News  11 Responses »
Jul 262012
 

I guess this could be predicted, but I was hoping against hope that it wouldn’t happen: Gojira’s North American tour with Lamb of God and Dethklok that was scheduled to begin right here in the Emerald City on August 1 has been canceled. I just saw this morbid news on Heavy Blog Is Heavy, and “borrowed” their modification of the tour poster as well. HBIH also included the following statements by Lamb of God and Dethklok:

LAMB OF GOD:

“Due to the continued incarceration of LAMB OF GOD singer Randy Blythe in the Czech Republic, the band’s co-headline tour with Dethklok scheduled to begin August 1st in Seattle is being cancelled.  The band regrets the decision but the uncertainty of Randy’s release makes it impossible to carry on with the tour.  Upon Randy’s release, it is the band’s intention to rebook a tour in the fall and at this time the band fully intends to participate in the Mayhem Cruise in December.

LAMB OF GOD wishes to thank Dethklok, Adult Swim and Gojira for their support and patience as well as all of the promoters who had dates on the tour.  Last but certainly not least, the band thanks all of the fans who bought tickets for the tour and who have been supportive of Randy and the band over the last month that Randy has been held in Prague.  Without the fans, there is no LAMB OF GOD.”

DETHKLOK:

“In light of circumstances beyond our control, the upcoming Dethklok and Lamb of God with Gojira summer tour has been canceled. Refunds will be available to customers who already purchased tickets through their point of purchase. We thank Dethklok fans for their continued support and look forward to releasing information about the band’s upcoming third album and a planned fall tour in the coming weeks.”

Okay, fine, so maybe LoG will organize a new tour whenever Randy Blythe is allowed to leave the Czech Republic and maybe Dethklok will find another way to hit the road soon, but honestly, what I really want to know is what Gojira are going to do. Continue reading »

NEW VIDEOS: BORRACHO AND GOJIRA

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  17 Responses »
Jun 302012
 

To start off the weekend right, I have some top-shelf video entertainment for you, from Borracho and . . . those Gallic dudes we may have mentioned once before around here.

BORRACHO

Yesterday, I spied a video that combined two of my favorite things: an epic metal jam and film footage of Mother Nature at her awe-inspiring best. Yes, I used the word “epic”, and I know that means I’ll have to punish myself in some really hurtful way, but goddammit I just can’t talk about “All In Play” without using that grossly-cliched-and-therefore-forbidden word.

“All In Play” is the name of the song around which Richard Bomgren (a Swedish fan of the band who has done other music video work) constructed this video. It appears on Borracho’s June 2011 debut album, Splitting Sky, which I’ve mentioned before in connection with their last video (for “Concentric Circles”).

The song is a long, slow build, filled with thick, ropey riffs — and I’m talking about the kind of cables they use to tie down big ocean-going freighters, thicker than a fat man’s waist — gut churning bass chords, drums that go off like gun shots, and Noah Greenberg’s gritty vocal squall. It’s a soulful, heavy, head-moving piece that’s my favorite song on a very strong album. Continue reading »

GOJIRALTERNATIVES

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  13 Responses »
Jun 282012
 

(Andy Synn has music recommendations for Gojira fans . . .)

So with this being unofficial Gojira week here at NCS, I thought I’d try and continue the theme a bit, while also branching off in my own direction.

What you’ll find here are five bands, some of whom we’ve covered before, who I think will appeal to a good number of you Gojira fans out there, for a variety of reasons.

Now I’m not trying to say any of them is better than the French eco-behemoths, nor am I trying to replace them in your affections. Instead this column exists for two reasons:

1. I know that Gojira are one of those bands who captivate even the most casual of metal fans. I know several people myself who aren’t obsessive metal-explorers like myself and instead have a much more varied taste in music, but who nevertheless carry a pretty impressive torch for the band. So for these people I wanted to bring some attention to other bands who might suit them, who they might otherwise not have time to investigate for themselves.

2. I also know that many of us (myself included) have a real appreciation for Gojira, but don’t LOVE them unconditionally, as many do. Now while that does make me the perfect (cough…) candidate to critically appraise the band from a pretty objective standpoint – hence why you might find find my reviews a little more critical, in some ways at least, than others – it also makes me feel like I’m missing something. I know exactly how good the band are, and there are songs I do love, even albums, but for some reason the band and I are just not getting to the stage where I can put a ring on it. SO for those like me who “get” Gojira, but don’t “GET” Gojira as much as others, here are a few alternatives that might just fill that empty hole. Continue reading »

GOJIRA: “L’ENFANT SAUVAGE” (A Review By TheMadIsraeli)

 Album Reviews  7 Responses »
Jun 262012
 

(Here’s the third of our three reviews of L’Enfant Sauvage. For the other two, go here and here.)

Alright, in my pantheon there are three kinds of metal: Fucking brutal, THALL, and Jens Kidman face.

Out of those items, I think it’s safe to say that if the metal in question is so brutal, so warping, and so filthy that it compels your facial muscles to create this expression, it’s the cream of the crop.

Gojira and I have had an odd relationship, in that I’ve never been able to decide whether I like them as a band.  There are aspects of the Gojira sound I’ve always loved: Joe Duplantier’s uninhibited, borderline primal-savagery vocal style, their sense of dissonance, and their dedication to writing some of the most crushing and mangled riffage known to man (“Ocean Planet” anyone?). Continue reading »

GOJIRA: “L’ENFANT SAUVAGE” (A Review By Andy Synn)

 Album Reviews  9 Responses »
Jun 262012
 

(This is the second of our three reviews of L’Enfant Sauvage. Here, the author is Andy Synn.)

Certain albums you just know are going to be difficult, even controversial, to review. The new Gojira is one such album. Expectations are high no matter who you are, whether you already decided this album is the metal equivalent of the second coming, or if you’re a dyed-in-the-wool cynic who knows for a fact that the band’s signing to Roadrunner Records obviously signals a decline in their creativity and integrity.

So what do I think?

It’s good, very good, but not mind-blowing. Stunningly, almost cripplingly heavy, it displays a central struggle between familiarity and progression. BUT (and trust me, it’s a big but) this struggle itself  is extremely enlightening and has, perhaps more than any other of their albums, forced me to think deeply about the band, their motivations and their methods. While the pulse of the music still hits on a purely visceral level, it has a consciousness which captivates the imagination and should lead even the casual listener to think more carefully about the band’s place in the world. Continue reading »

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