GOJIRA broke the internet with its thundering performance at last week’s opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. For many, this was their first taste of an extreme subgenre, death metal, and the reactions range from the “wow, that was mind-blowing” to “wow, what was that noise?”.
If you fall into the former category and want to know a little more about these French metallers, here are a few choice nuggets to disguise your newbie fandom.
Maximum exposure
An estimated one billion people tuned in for the opening ceremony and the exposure was immediately reflected in Gojira’s streaming numbers. The band saw its Spotify streaming numbers jump by 282% in France over the weekend and 129% worldwide.
Kaiju metal
Formed by brothers Joe and Mario Duplantier as Godzilla, the band later decided in 2001 to use the original Nipponese moniker of the great monster classic. This was to avoid any copyright issues. Gojira released its debut studio album Terra Incognita on their own imprint Gabriel Editions in March 2001.
Seasoned band
The band may be new to many but Gojira was formed in 1996 in Ondres, France. To date, the quartet has released seven studio albums and a clutch of EPs. The hard-touring outfit has also released a series of live DVDs. So no, Gojira is not an overnight sensation and has a long history pre-dating that Olympic performance as groundbreaking as it may have been.
Molten lava
Gojira’s sixth album Magma is the breakthrough release as the band refined its sound, dropping many of its previous technical death metal signatures. It is the first album by a French band to top the US Billboard Hard Rock Album Top 100 while also making significant impact in Europe. Despite polishing its sound, Magma is no less heavy or ferocious than its predecessors. Having “clean” vocals and being a bit less widdly-widdly certainly helped broaden the band’s appeal.
Waxing lyrical
Despite the demonic sounding tune it belted out at the Olympics opening bash, it is not all brutal murder and beheadings nor is the band of the “Hail Lucifer” brigade. Lyrical themes touch on environmental issues, most prominently on its last release – Fortitude (2021). Not often do you hear of metal bands singing about philosophy or spirituality but hey, Gojira is French, which may explain it... or not.
Grammy nominations
Gojira has been nominated three times for a Grammy but failed to pick up the golden gramaphone on each occassion. In 2017, it got two nominations: Best Metal Performance (Silvera) and Best Metal Album (Magma). In 2022, it picked up another nomination for Best Metal Performance (Amazonia). Perhaps, the Olympic spotlight will see the band break its duck.
So now you can slip on that brand new Gojira tee and be part of the metal renaissance sparked by that truly remarkable performance. Go forth and headbang!
