Into The Storm – Gojira

Kaiju’s are back in style this season. If you want to look the part while stepping on buildings when downtown in the hip coastal cities of the world then we have the style tips for you. As the lockdown lifts, you’re going to need a Gojira Cassette in your Sony Walkman if you’re going to move between the towerblocks and knee high neon crushing cars and kicking over buses with your feet. Why not consider tangling yourself in electricity pylons as you do battle with a giant moth while listening to Into The Storm by these heavy metal trendsetters? It’ll show those less up to the minute fashion followers who the real style influencers are.

Into The Storm is a magnificent slice of pummeling metal. All guttural growls and fast as frik riffling. Just like Mama used to bake. Just how you like it. And now with added vitamins. Taken from their new album Fortitude. A record that shows it’s hand as a Sepultura influenced earthy thrash beast in the same vein as Beneath The Remains, Mastodon’s Leviathan and this bands own 2016 opus Magma.

The tracks from Fortitude started coming as early as August last year with Another World. Just three weeks ago we got Amazonia. Wearing it’s bloody roots on it’s sleeve it is an elemental piece of heavy metal. Evidently the element in particular focus is Earth. As in mid. Diet. Clay. Sod. In between those two we had Born For One Thing in February. Now this album is shaping up to be the beast we have come to expect from the band. Only distilled, doubly or triple distilled by the shiny crystal clear production. I have to say. I think Gojira sound better than ever.

Full blooded Heavy Metal is in rude shape right now. With Mastodon, Orange Goblin, Spiritbox, Architects and Slipknot all about to do stuff that’ll turn it up in the summer months and a slate of shelved heavy albums by everyone from Alestorm and At The Gates to While She Sleeps and Rammstein dropping all over 2021. Gojira for me though are leading the pack.

I love hearing metal done right. Be that the histrionics of Judas Priest, the turning on a sixpence riffage of Metallica or the gutteral thuds and clungs of Gojira. It’s reassuring to me to know metal is still metal.

As we approach album release date next week I can’t wait to rock up at Spin The Black Circle on Friday after work and hand over my hard earned for a heavy weight vinyl version of this album with a proper serious looking sleeve featuring a po-faced warrior illustration on it and a trad metal spiky logo. Then I’m going to take it home. Drop the needle and open a beer.

When the summer comes. If it’s safe I may stand before a stage and feel the bass drum in my chest as they bang away on these tunes in front of a crowd. If not. Friday will do. Friday will do very nicely.