Gojira - The Link (2003)

Where the debut Terra Incognita might have struggled a little in terms of finding an identity, and understandably so, as half the album consisted of re-recorded demo material; The Link is a far more coherent expression of the French band's surreal, atmospheric grooving that falls somewhere between the realms of Neurosis, Prong, Tool, Voivod and Meshuggah without any clear re-iteration of the above. A spacious effort, hardly immediate, it continues to tread upon the mechanical nature of its predecessor, but lacks much of that album's sterility and confusion. Make no mistake, the sounds of The Link can grate upon the soul. Some of its lumbering, muted rhythms feel like an emptiness spread throughout the being, a tinge of paralysis that begins at the fingertips and scalp and then crawls through the capillaries into the organs of importance.

Yes, this is probably the 'coldest' of the band's full-lengths, but cold through the vistas it explores, where the only fractions of warmth must be earned. "The Link" is an early indicator that Mario Duplantier will be continuing to enthrall through his use of wood blocks and other unexpected percussion within the album's bouncing post-metal groove, like you were hearing some refined alternative to Sepultura's Roots, raised on paint thinner, with none of that album's shitty guitar grunting. Joe sticks to his better, tormented vocals, starting at the Roots Cavalera range (or Tommy Victor's sewer-scarred throat) and then howling off into a much more welcoming arena where they traipse like an aurora across the nightline. "Death of Me" see-saws like a pair of rusted golems, splattering itself in grimy death metal breaks and winding down like a mechanized toy that is slowly expending its battery juices in a final ballet. "Connected" is a sweet percussion piece, while "Remembrance" sears across a skillet of post-hardcore drone and bludgeoning old chug warfare.

"Torii" is a peaceful instrumental piece, like a tone poem of scintillating clean guitars and random sound effects that flows quite naturally into the vibrant downtrodden chug of "Indians". Sadly this is one of the most boring tracks on the album, and I have no idea why it was chosen for a single...once you've heard the first 30-60 seconds, there is little to anticipate, and even the mathematical groove bridge does little to light the blood afire. Far better is the factory-line melody of "Embrace the World" (I loved the feel of the bass backing it up), which surges into spasms of noisy grind and crunch. "Inward Movement" is slow, like carefully processing bowels that wish to neatly package their contents for excretion, with a subtle architecture of flagellant noise and dense groove seeking to undulate the intestinal process.

The land beyond is deep within
I took the path & I cannot go back
I've just connected myself with I
but I don't me that well as you see

Trippy enough lyrics, though again, a rather boring song. "Over the Flows" is the weird, somewhat out of place song to supplant "Satan is a Lawyer" from the debut, but it's also quite a bit more mesmerizing, with sparse, cyclic moments of nauseous momentum and vocals that hiss off into a field of distortion. "Wisdom Comes" arrives like a brick through a window, and might be the worst song on this album, being the one thing here reprinted from the demo days. As forgettable as much of the songs squealing, dull death metal qualities are, there is the one bristling riff within at :40 which develops nicely before it transforms into awful chug grooving that you'd expect from any neighborhood metalcore band. The finale is an instrumental, experimental pattern of breathing guitar work ruptured through turbulent grooves, called simply "Dawn", and while fascinating in spots, it doesn't provide for many of the album's better moments.

The Link is a step up the ladder for a band on their rise to the stars, but it's a step suffused with some minor pitfalls which make for inconsistent listening. Most of the tracks are worthwhile, and the overall sound is fused together far more than the debut, but those few that are not land the album at a level just above average. Really, with the imminent existence of From Mars to Sirius and The Way of All Flesh, this is not something you'd ever reach towards for a fix of Gojira. But it's their first successful recording, speaking reams of potential if not engraving itself deep enough into your cortex for immediate reflection.

Highlights: Death of Me, Connected, Embrace the World, Torii

Verdict: Win [7/10] (I want to build some fire)

http://www.gojira-music.com/