Way Of All Flesh, The - Gojira

...for their latest album, The Way of All Flesh. I would well recommend a listen to them.

There are 12 tracks to this album, starting with the uplifting 'Oroborous'. The album's lyrics focus on aspects and beliefs of life and death and are very intriguing, along with their usual lyrics about global warming and earthly matters.

Track Listing:

1. Oroborous
This song kicks off with great guitar work and ...
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12. The Way of All Flesh
Despite being 17 minutes long, only about 6 minutes of this actually features any music (there is a long silence of about 8 minutes after the song has finished before some strange sounds finish the final minute or so). the song is great for headbangers and death metal fans alike; some more great riffs and drums, a great song to finish the album with. 9/10



All in all, i would ... more

Gojira are a 4 piece band from the south of france, who perform their tracks in english. Their genre tends to be a cross over of all ranges, from death to thrash to techno. I recently saw them perform at the Oxford 02 Academy and it was the best gig i've ever been to, so i thought i'd come back and write a review for their latest album, The Way of All Flesh. I would well recommend a listen to them.

There are 12 tracks to this album, starting with the uplifting 'Oroborous'. The album's lyrics focus on aspects and beliefs of life and death and are very intriguing, along with their usual lyrics about global warming and earthly matters.

Track Listing:

1. Oroborous
This song kicks off with great guitar work and has some great accompanying drums which really get you nodding along. The style of this song is more a mash of thrash and death metal, but without ever becoming a death metal song. 8/10

2. Toxic Garbage Island
Possibly the heaviest song on the album, being a guitarist this is also my favourite as the initial intro and riff are quite simply brilliant. the drums kick in with some pounding double pedals and the guitar work is yet again brilliant, before there is a break down after the verse, which slows the song before pummeling back into the opening riff again. Towards the end is a long death inspired double pedal part which is simply music to the ears. The final lyric "Plastic bag in the sea" sums up the lyrical content of what this song is about. Must listen song in my opinion. 10/10

3. A Sight to Behold
This song takes a strange place in the album as it is more electronic and techno-y compared to the other songs, but at the same time is still a great track. Very emotive lyrics and eventually the guitars kick in a bit toward the end so still has the metal element to it. 8/10

4. Yama's Messengers
This song is sludgy, grindcore - inspired metal, with a breathtaking thrash section. some of the best drumming on the album is on display here, the song really gets you nodding your head along to the chorus riff. 8/10

5.The silver Chord
This instrumental piece is a calming outro to the previous song but doesn't really rock my boat. a very soothing piece which shows the bands ability to change styles and do it well. 6/10

6. All the Tears
This song kicks in with a heavy riff and some huge double pedals, it is again more grindcore and death inspired. there is a blastbeat section in this song for any fans of that sort of drumming. Not my favourite on this album but i know alot of fans hold this song in high regard. 7/10

7. Adoration for none
Any fans of 'Lamb of god' will recognise the voice accompanying gojira's joe duplantier immediately as Randy Blythe. this is quite a strange song with some heavy riffing mixed in with break downs and thrash parts. another song you'd have to listen to to be able to describe it accurately. The special guitar trick that the guitarists in Gojira use, known to me as the 'whale noise' from their previous album, forms part of the major verse riff here. 8/10

8.The Art of Dying
This song has a long intro to it, which consists of some strange drumming sounding like a mix of brazilian and african influences. when the guitars kick in the drums pick up and the whole piece moves into an abnormal time signature. it is hard to keep pace and predict when the verse will move in, which slows the pace right down and features huge sludgy guitars. as a complete song this probably has it all. towards the end is a awe inspiring grind and thrash section which makes you want to move almost instantly. 10/10

9.Esoteric Surgery
This is another one of my favourite songs on the album. it is a fairly simple and straight forward death metal piece, with a great tremelo picked riff and guitars throughout. Quite uplifting for a strange reason. 10/10

10.Vacuity
The pace is brought right down here and gets you nodding along in perfect timing to the heavy riff and drums. quite a simple verse and chorus but so effective. there is a breakdown after the second chorus which speeds the song up into a death thrash with blastbeats section before slowing again for some more brilliant guitars. 10/10

11.Wolf Down the Earth
This song again ranks up there as among my favourites and features more heavy tremelo picked riffs (playing each note multiple times really quickly) and pinch harmonics mixed with the famous 'whale noise'. the double pedal and crash cymbals work so well to blend it in to the best intro on the album. the rest of the song doesn't quite match the intro but is brilliant all the same. 10/10

12. The Way of All Flesh
Despite being 17 minutes long, only about 6 minutes of this actually features any music (there is a long silence of about 8 minutes after the song has finished before some strange sounds finish the final minute or so). the song is great for headbangers and death metal fans alike; some more great riffs and drums, a great song to finish the album with. 9/10

All in all, i would really recommend anyone to give this band a try, just to experience a death metal band who are completely different to anyone else. the preceding album 'From Mars to Sirius' is perhaps slightly more accessible for mainstream music fans so is also worth a nod. Overall i would give this album a 9 out of 10 for its consistently high level of music, with just the one or two skippable tracks on. I've had this album roughly 6 months now and i still listen to it almost every day, which is testament to just how good it really is. 

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