From Mars to Sirius [Import]

Gojira | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 27, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• ASIN: B000BU9UO6
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #715,061 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Ocean Planet

2. Backbone

3. From the Sky

4. Unicorn

5. Where Dragons Dwell

6. The Heaviest Matter of the Universe

7. Flying Whales

8. In the Wilderness

9. World to Come

10. From Mars

11. To Sirius

12. Global Warming

Editorial Reviews

About the Artist

Originally dubbed Godzilla, after the scaly green Japanese film star of yore, the Duplantier brothers (guitarist/vocalist Joe and drummer Mario) and fellow band members Michel Labadie (bass), and Christian Andreu (guitar) quickly released several demos, ultimately changing the band’s name due to legal concerns, yet still relentlessly tearing forward towards the band’s first album, Terra Incognita.

Sounding as heavy as the sci-fi film artillery used against the band’s namesake back in the 60s, GOJIRA followed up its debut with The Link, a huge and utter success throughout France and all of Europe. So successful was the band’s take on the world’s earthly state of affairs, the environment, and plenty more, that GOJIRA followed it up with The Like Alive, a DVD capturing the band’s massive concert sound, solidly-executed live show, and showcasing the throngs of French and European fans the band has gained since its humble beginnings.

With over 8,000 copies of The Link and more than 2,500 copies of its DVD companion sold domestically in France without large distribution, Listenable Records took note and released a remixing of the record, and in 2005 released From Mars To Sirius, GOJIRA’s most concise, thoughtful, and heavy record to date. Recorded at home in the studios of the Milans, From Mars To Sirius may feature mentions of dragons, the angers of the ocean, the threats to the world’s environment, and it does feature a flying whale on the album’s cover, but it all ultimately meets the band’s goals. All the while, GOJIRA continues to barrel forward hand-in-hand with revolutionary insights and a heavy-as-concrete sound, going against the grain and creating a sound uniquely their own.

Product Description

Gojira possess distinct modern elements and can be compared to a host of peers. I hear Fear Factory during the latter half of Ocean Planet and Strapping Young Lad in The Heaviest Matter Of The Universe. Mastodon are included, too, as well as a production reminiscent of Meshuggah. Out of twelve songs, most contain sections that are verifiable earthquakes. Unlike earthquakes, however, the onslaughts are predictable but no amount of preparation will ready you for the upheaval. Besides the gentler Unicorn and From Mars, every other opus fully encapsulates what Gojira are about and what kind of damage they are capable of inflicting. Whatever the case, From Mars To Sirius is exemplary in a number of ways. Adorers of any of the bands mentioned in this review are encouraged to take a stab at this, because Gojira are simply too powerful and competent to ignore. Though much of the record's appeal leaves me searching for descriptive words and phrases, rest assured that the impact and subsequent devastation are both unavoidable and irreparable. You might see it coming, but it'll still knock you on your ass. It's one of the better things I've heard this year. - Metal-Observer.com. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gojira live up to their namesake, January 11, 2007

By 

A. Stutheit "Teyad" (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: From Mars to Sirius (Audio CD)

Listening to "From Mars To Sirius" is like being locked in a windowless room in a mental hospital with a stereo blaring albums by Meshuggah, Morbid Angel, Soilent Green, Krisiun, Neurosis, Hate Eternal, Fear Factory, Circle of Dead Children, Mastodon, Godflesh, Dark Tranquility, Napalm Death, Voivod, and Strapping Young Lad at full volume, and all at the same time. In other words, Gojira mainly focus on making severe death metal with dreamy progressive metal touches, but in no way do they stop at that. They also combine elements of doom, sludge, thrash, technical death, melodeath, and industrial metal, and it's clear that the band members also have a fair amount of grindcore and hardcore running through their veins. Needless to say, it's quite a lethal brew, and metalheads would be hard pressed to find another band that's more brutal and barbaric than Gojira (who, by the way, are a French quartet that shares a namesake with a Japanese films' star named Godzilla).

And, very much alike the fictitious green dinosaur mentioned above, these twelve tracks are tremendously huge, muscular, and savage, so they ferociously and effortlessly crush and obliterate everything in sight (and even everything within a fifty-mile radius). It seems like every band member engages in a free-for-all battle against one-another. Vocalist Joe Duplantier barks, yells, and howls in such a way as to evoke Jens Kidman (of Meshuggah), but it's not uncommon for his vocals to border on the classic gore-grind style. Meanwhile, guitarist Christian Andreu pounds out monster, groove-based riff after another with an impossible ease, and drummer Mario Duplantier almost always backs him up with tons of deft blasting. And, lastly, a crystal clear production job makes sure the music gets shoved straight down your throat.

Songs like the album opener, "Ocean Planet" are bolstered by slamming riffs, pummeling, jackhammer drums, and an impenetrably-hard rhythm. Next, the bludgeoning "Backbone" gets in your face and smacks you around with machine gun, doomsday riffing, fast, driving double bass work, and even a noteworthy (humming) bass line. Then we have "Where Dragons Dwell" and "World To Come," two mind-numbing skull-crackers with crunching, grinding, lumbering power chords, searing leads, and smashing drums that seemingly explode out of your speakers. Elsewhere, tracks such as "The Heaviest Matter Of The Universe," which make you think you're sitting an inch away from a rapidly-exploding cannon, seem intent on knocking you out and giving you brain damage. It just goes on like this...this is 66 minutes of extremely dissonant, thunderously crushing, bone-shattering, at times almost deafening brutality. The incessant pummel only breaks for the occasional acoustic interlude (see "Unicorn"), which are actually quite pretty and almost dreamy. Other than that, though, Gojira don't let up until you're bruised, broken, and beaten into a bloody pulp...then they hit you again.

"From Mars To Sirius" may very well be the heaviest and most devastating record released in recent memory. And if nothing else, then it certainly takes the cake in that category for metal albums released in all of 2006 (even Lamb Of God's frontman, Randy Blythe, thinks so!) But that's not to mislead you -- this album doesn't get by on just immense sonic brutality. Its real genius is that it all sounds so unique. Gojira drew influence from numerous different bands and genres, but when all of the influences are mixed together, Gojira sound like their own band. (Absolutely no other album being produced today sounds like this one.) Thus, "From Mars To Sirius" proudly stands as one of the year's strongest, boldest, and most successful, realized, commanding, satisfying, and innovative heavy music releases.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Borderline masterpiece, September 12, 2006

By 

Eric D. Musall "random voice of the internet" (Indianapolis, IN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: From Mars to Sirius (Audio CD)

This is a very unique metal release - it has some clear influences and predecessors, but manages to combine those into a very distinctive package.

Between the cover art and the band's name, you actually get a good idea of what you can expect to hear. It's spacy and trippy at times, but like the namesake movie monster, or the whale of the cover, it's heavy and ponderous as well. The fundamental sound is a slow, grinding, very heavy one that reminds me a midway point between early Godflesh and Meshuggah. I actually prefer these guys over Meshuggah - for whatever reason their ideas just tickle my brain a little more. The singing reminds me of Sepultura, and bits and pieces also bring to mind Soundgarden at their heaviest, or maybe old Seattle sludge bands like Tad. And then there are the grindcore breaks... or the Pink Floydish chiming guitar interludes... no matter. It all works together in an unexpected way, surprising you regularly but never going off the rails.

The lyrics and mood of the album are unusual, tackling environmental issues in a positive way (instead of "we're all gonna die!", it tends toward "maybe we can fix this mess"). The actual words are a bit ham-handed and occasionally dumb in that foreign-metal-guy-singing-in-English way, but most of the time you won't be able to make them out. It certainly doesn't detract from the experience except on the closing track, which is sung more cleanly than any other song here.

Overall I have to say, this is the best tremendously heavy album I've bought in a long time.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The King of all monsters, January 23, 2007

By 

S. Chamberlain (Rowlett, TX United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: From Mars to Sirius (Audio CD)

In my childhood, I was a kid fascinated with science fiction monster movies. Among the greats, Gojira *or as Americans know it, Godzilla* was on the top of my list. He represented everything that I've grown to like about metal which is full out destruction and heaviness. Naturally, when I heard a metal band had used the name Gojira, this band better live up to the name. Thankfully, for most part, this Frenchies live up to their name with an album that delivers just like the mighty beast does.

From Mars to Sirius consists of pretty much everything that people on metalreview have said. It is an album filled with hints of Meshuggah, Strapping Young Lad, and even at times something like Isis. So how could these guys pull off anything that we haven't heard a thousand times before? Luckily, the band knows how to create an identity without wearing their influences on their sleeve. The greatest thing that Gojira has going for itself is the amount of variety, while keeping a unified sound. The album kicks off with a militant smasher in "Ocean Planet", and then follows up with a very straightforward "Backbone". The album then precedes to go to the slow grinding "Where The Dragons Dwell" with Joe Duplianter showcasing a very guttural and downright intimidating vocal presence.

One of the other qualities about the album as well is the lack of guitar solos. I know it is a cardinal sin to say such things, but I didn't find myself bored with the guitar work. I think placing solos on the album would have slowed the album down a bit. If a metal album can survive without guitar solos, I say more power to the band. Sometimes bands force the placement of their solos, and I'm glad this band didn't fall victim to that. Production on From Mars to Sirius is top notch with crystal clear sound. The band must be commended since they for the most part took care of the mixing. The guitars and drum sound are unbelievably heavy and really keep the album listenable.

So, as the magazine Terrorizer put it, are these guys the saviors of metal? As much as I would love to bestow that title to them, Gojira aren't THAT innovative. The band still has some loose strings to attach before really perfecting their sound. First and foremost, the album's biggest problem is the second half. Of the last six songs, four of them top over the six minute mark. This drastically hurts the flow of the album. Of those four, "World to Come" is the most average song on the album. With the first half moving so briskly, the listener hits an audible brick wall. Second, for those metal fans who enjoy the deepest and most thought provoking lyrics *but c'mon who are you kidding?*, Gojira is not your band. Gojira mostly sticks to the "we're killing the universe, cut it out" angle on most of the album's subject matter. Even if one doesn't read the lyric sheet, it doesn't take a genius to figure out what they are screaming about with song titles like, "Global Warming" and "World to Come".

In saying that, I have the opinion that Gojira will end up like a fine wine, and they just need to set in the exposure of the metal community to truly create something miraculous. This band definitely has the ability and talent to create an album that "saves" the metal genre. Now I just need to find out when this band will cover Blue Oyster Cult's "Godzilla".