If you like hard hitting metal to groove to that blends extreme with groove and melody and you aren't listening to Gojira, you are in for a treat. These guys deliver pure, unencumbered, heavy metal. The music they produce is a force of nature. Heavy, unrelenting, skull shattering metal. With The Flesh Alive, they have captured their live set in a few different venues and take us behind the curtain to show the writing process and touring cycle.
I first experienced Gojira in 2007 when they were a part of the Radio Rebellion Tour with Behemoth and Job for a Cowboy. I had never heard them before they took the stage (supporting their then current release, From Mars to Sirius) and I was floored. It was like a cross between Mastodon and Meshuggah while not really being either.
Gojira is proof positive that it is not always about how fast you can play or how many notes you can squeeze in, but about just how heavy you can be. There are few bands that I have encountered so far that can match the sheer bone crushing power that they possess. Like the film legend from which they got their name, Gojira is a true force of nature. This DVD set helps drive that home, as if their music was not enough on its own.
The first disc features their full set from the Garorock Festival in 2009. This features a set made mostly of tunes from The Way of All Flesh and From Mars to Sirius, with a few from their debut album, Terra Incognita, thrown in for good measure. The best thing I can think of to recommend here is to turn down the lights, turn up the volume, press play, and hope not to piss off the neighbors. This is the sort of stuff that is meant to be played at loud volumes.
The stage is huge, the crowd is a veritable sea of thrashing bodies, and Gojira do their very best to fill any and all remaining space with sound, the heaviest they have on hand. Just listen as they start their set with "Oroborus" and you will know what you are in for.
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