Gojira

After the rousing, worldwide success of last year’s From Mars to Sirius, France’s premier metal label Listenable remasters and re-releases Gojira’s sophomore album, The Link, in new packaging. Their thrash-y mix of Meshuggah and singer Joseph Duplantier’s seamless Gorefest growl doesn’t sucker-punch the listener as on From Mars but the inherent textures bare enough teeth to make this a required purchase. Beginning with Course of Empire-like woodblock syncopation, the title track lurches forward, bouncing on Jean-Michel Labadie’s buoyant bass lines, as does the equally intriguing "Death of Me.” Tribal instrumental "Connected” serves as an apt intro for the furious "Remembrance” and the ambient "Torii” flows through the catchy, Killing Joke-paced "Indians.” The slash’n’burn aspect of "Embrace the World” is tempered by the erratic yet algebraic "Inward Movement,” while "Over the Flows” could be System of a Down-inspired. The double-bass death march of "Wisdom Comes” precedes eight-minute instrumental closer "Dawn.” Understanding Gojira’s past through The Link is a portent to the band’s glorious future.