TERRA INCOGNITA

Well, here we are: the debut album by an experimental death metal band that has begun to make leaps and bounds and really stick out among others in the genre. If we hear 5-10 years down the road that Gojira is/was a major influence for a lot of metal bands, I wouldn't be too surprised.

This album is where it began. However, some of the genius still has yet to appear. Don't get me wrong though. This is a pretty good album. However it has nothing on their later releases, especially FMtS and TWoAF. The musicians are already competent, which shows very well on this album, especially on one of my favorite songs on here, Satan is a Lawyer. However, I have to agree with other sentiments about this album not being terribly original. The use of old school death metal riffs is always neat to hear from a modern band and is nostalgic for me. But Gojira doesn't bring a whole lot new to the table in this release. I hear too many influences from bands like Meshuggah and some old school death metal bands (I believe a fellow reviewer mentioned Dying Fetus at some point, which I believe is a good example) for me to be incredibly interested. Because of this flaw, a lot of the songs sound quite similar to each other and there isn't much variation. If you want to pick up some Gojira, don't start here. If however you already have some of their better albums and want to help complete your collection, you should enjoy this one as well. I'll give it 3 stars because it does have its moments. But those moments are sometimes few and far between.