Band:	Gojira
Album:	The Way Of All Flesh
Style:	Progressive death metal
Release date:	October 13, 2008
A review by:	jupitreas

01. Oroborus
02. Toxic Garbage Island
03. A Sight To Behold
04. Yama's Messengers
05. The Silver Cord
06. All The Tears
07. Adoration For None
08. The Art Of Dying
09. Esoteric Surgery
10. Vacuity
11. Wolf Down The Earth
12. The Way Of All Flesh

Without a doubt, Gojira is one of those bands that are being talked about a lot in the metal community these days and with good reason. The Frenchmen are taking part in progressively higher profile tours and their albums are achieving respectable notoriety all over the world, something that is made all the more impressive by the fact that the band's music is far from commercial sounding or easy to digest. The Way Of All Flesh, Gojira's latest album is supposed to be the next step in the band's ascent into super-stardom and I can say with a degree of certainty that it will serve this purpose successfully, even if it is not an entirely flawless release.

Gojira plays a hybrid style that seems to be inspired by a number of other bands' music. The angular, rhythmic riffs remind me of Meshuggah and Textures, the clinical drums and precise kick drum work brings to mind Raymond Herrera of Fear Factory, while the fondness for heavy mid-tempo structures echo that provided by many a groove thrash band, including Lamb Of God, the vocalist of which is conveniently featured as a guest performer on "Adoration For None". Those familiar with the forgotten American band Beyond will also pick up an uncanny resemblance between their 1995 album Reassemble and the sound that Gojira pursues on The Way Of All Flesh. This amalgam of influences results in an album that one needs to train themselves to enjoy, a status highlighted by the fact that the album also contains overtly ecological lyrics, which is an approach that not everybody needs to agree with or even find intriguing. Another issue is that the album is not an entirely consistent effort, with some songs being less memorable than others.

With all this said, Gojira still manages to infuse each and every song with some sort of interesting break, riff, groove or otherwise intriguing element. Case in point - "Yama's Messengers", an otherwise quite repetitive and even redundant mid-tempo stomper, is saved by the crescendoing blast beats that appear towards the end of the track. Likewise, the failed attempt at a more robotic sound that can be heard in "A Sight To Behold" is saved by the great breaks featured in this song. Luckily, the vast majority of the remainder of this album is very impressive, with the real excellent tracks being located in the second half. From "The Art Of Dying" till the end, we are treated to an essentially flawless combination of groove and brutality, highlighted by intelligent song writing. These 5 tracks alone will make this album an immense success.

So there we have it - The Way Of All Flesh could certainly use some pruning and more consistency; however, even in its current state it is a more than listenable and powerful record. I think the fans and the curious will be more than happy to overlook the small faults, while I hope that the next album will not contain any at all.