GOJIRA (Live)

at the City Hall, Newcastle, U.K., February 14, 2023

GOJIRA (Live at the City Hall, Newcastle, U.K., February 14, 2023)
Photo: Mick Burgess

It may not have been the Valentine’s Day that many had dreamed of but French Metal titans certainly had the hearts pumping with their monstrously brutal take on Progressive Death Metal.

Eschewing traditional lyrical themes of death and evil in favour of those from a more environmental viewpoint mark Gojira down as rather unique within the Metal genre and they sound all the better for it.

With the show rescheduled from last year due to continuing Covid issues, it came as something of a relief to see the band stride on stage to “Born For One Thing,” swiftly followed by a gut punching “The Heaviest Matter Of The Universe,” a rather apt title if there ever was one.

Led from the front by Joe Duplantier, spitting forth bitter venom during “Stranded” and “The Art of Dying” while laying down some earth-shaking riffs alongside fellow guitarist Christian Andreu, Gojira more than live up to their name, which translates to Godzilla, literally.

Gojira also bring in some twisted melodies too most notably on “Silvera” and “L’enfant Sauvage” which boasts a foundation of titanic riffs carrying the mysterious, dark tunes making quite a symphonic cacophony.

Mario Duplantier was a revelation on drums, a pure powerhouse of energy and intensity contained within a slight frame. During his brief solo he whipped up the crowd by holding aloft a sign that simply said “Howay” – talk about ingratiating yourself with the locals with one, single word.

Closing with a pair from their latest album, Fortitude, including the huge, heavy groove of the brilliant “Amazonia,” a Grammy nominated behemoth that really deserved to win, saw Gojira send the crowd home for a Valentine’s Day they won’t forget.

Review and Photos By Mick Burgess

Author

  • Mick Burgess

    Mick is a reviewer and photographer here at Metal Express Radio, based in the North-East of England. He first fell in love with music after hearing Jeff Wayne's spectacular The War of the Worlds in the cold winter of 1978. Then in the summer of '79 he discovered a copy of Kiss Alive II amongst his sister’s record collection, which literally blew him away! He then quickly found Van Halen I and Rainbow's Down To Earth, and he was well on the way to being rescued from Top 40 radio hell!   Over the ensuing years, he's enjoyed the Classic Rock music of Rush, Blue Oyster Cult, and Deep Purple; the AOR of Journey and Foreigner; the Pomp of Styx and Kansas; the Progressive Metal of Dream Theater, Queensrÿche, and Symphony X; the Goth Metal of Nightwish, Within Temptation, and Epica, and a whole host of other great bands that are too numerous to mention. When he's not listening to music, he watches Sunderland lose more football (soccer) matches than they win, and occasionally, if he has to, he goes to work as a property lawyer.

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