BORN FOR ONE THING
FOR A generation of young headbangers, GOJIRA are the new titans of groove metal: progressive, heavy-hitting riff giants continuing in the lineage of Metallica, Sepultura, Pantera, Lamb of God and others. And just like the six-string legends that preceded them — Hetfield, Cavalera, Dimebag and more — central to the French band’s success is a modern metal rhythm guitar hero: Joe Duplantier. But good luck approaching him with that kind of praise.
“I’m not an awesome guitar player,” retorts Duplantier, who’s also Gojira’s singer, producer and primary songwriter. “Sure, I have my technique and experience, but if you drop me in a room full of people jamming blues, it’s gonna be a little difficult. There’s going to be a lot of wrong notes in there. [Laughs] I don’t have my scales down and I’m not a shredder or anything.”
Duplantier’s humility (and lack of blues chops) aside, what the musician does possess is that enviable, elusive holy grail for a guitarist: a unique voice. He calls it the “Gojira language,” and it’s instantly recognizable from the moment the cavalcade of distorted pick-scraped riffs, propulsive hammer-on rhythms and intoxicating atmospherics come roaring out of his amplifier.
“ THIS IS OUR LIFE. We have a purpose to create something artistic, SOMETHING TO SURVIVE FOR ETERNITY…”
Since Gojira formed in 1996 (first as Godzilla, before adopting their current moniker in 2001), their career has followed a steady trajectory upward. Duplantier and his band — which also includes his brother Mario Duplantier on drums, bassist Jean-Michel Labadie and lead guitarist Christian Andreu — have continuously refined their musical chops and expanded their artistic vision across six albums. And with each one, from 2001’s fierce debut and 2005 breakout to 2016’s Grammy-nominated , Gojira have earned more fans, more critical praise and more respect from many of their own heroes. Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe was an early backer (and guested on 2008’s ), and Metallica, Slipknot, Rammstein and others have personally recruited them as tour support. s ,, is primed to be their biggest outing yet. The initial preview of the album arrived back in August 2020, when Gojira surprise-dropped their first new song in four years, “Another World.” single ever. Six months later, in February of this year, Gojira premiered second punishing single, “Born for One Thing” — and its accompanying video topped a million views within days.
