Brothers Joe and Mario Duplantier of French metal band Gojira endured a serious blow last summer when their mother died during the recording of their sixth studio album. Her passing has since become a huge part of the new album, themes of death, loss, and grief permeating the music and lyrics.
“The songs were half-written while she was sick,” Joe says. “After she died, I still had to finish them. So one song was like, ‘You’re going to make it,’ but the second verse is ‘You didn’t make it.’”
“Mario was recording drums, and I was playing guitar with him, just trying to help him know where he’s at in the song, and both of us would start crying at the same time,” says vocalist/guitarist Joe Duplantier tells Rolling Stone.
Mario adds, “When you read Joe’s lyrics, for me, I cry right away. They’re very deep and to the point. No bullshit. We recycle our sadness and depression in the music.”
As mentioned above, the band has recorded their as-yet-unnamed sixth studio album, which will be released this summer. To give fans a taste of what’s to come, they’ve released a video that shows some of the music in store. You can listen to it below.
Joe also explains, “We want a short album. Something less epic than what we usually do. People’s attentions are shorter now. So a lot of the songs are four minutes.”
Honestly, at this point I’ll take a new Gojira album in whatever form. I need something like that in my life again.