Connect with us

Music

[Album Review] Gojira ‘The Flesh Alive’ Live DVD/CD

Published

on

The rise of Gojira is nothing short of meteoric and wonderful. Hailing from Bayonne, France, this extreme metal band, who brilliantly blends technicality with melody, has garnered world wide praise with each of their releases. Interest spread so far and grew so large that Metallica had them as support for much of their late 2009 tour. They were once again invited to join Metallica during their European tour. This was all an opportunity for them to support their (at the time) newly released album The Way Of All Flesh.

All of this is the focus of Gojira’s latest live DVD, The Flesh Alive. Featuring two full concerts, three songs from another, and a 62-minute documentary, this DVD aims to give viewers a chance to enter the world of one of France’s heaviest and most fascinating bands. But does it succeed or leave the viewer feeling cheated?

The first DVD is the band performing at the Garorock Festival in 2009. The concert shows the band performing in front of a vast audience, an ocean of writhing, undulating bodies. The video is highly stylized, featuring sharp edits, video filters, sudden zooms, and more. It makes for a visually entertaining and engaging video, one that I couldn’t tear my eyes away from. The audio is well mixed although I would’ve liked the vocals to be a hair louder. But what I really appreciated was the mix of audience noise. Instead of omitting it entirely or removing it completely, the audience was mixed in at appropriate points, giving an authentic feel to the “concert experience”.

The first DVD also features three tracks that were performed at Les Vieilles Charrues. These three tracks see the band on the biggest stage of the concerts but also see the least amount of editing and almost no video effects along with very few, if any, shots of the audience. It’s a raw, pure way in which to see the band.

The second DVD features the band’s performance in Bordeaux and is a very different visual from the Garorock performance. For one, the audience and stage are proportionately smaller. Secondly, there is a much greater emphasis on making sure that the video that plays behind the band gets more attention. There is also far less video filters and effects. But what is interesting is that the crowd is much more engaged and appreciative than the crowd at Garorock.

So, in terms of watching the concerts, it’s a toss up between what I want to see. If I want a visually engaging and big performance, Garorock is the clear answer. But if I want to see a crowd that is much more appreciative of the band as well as the fascinating and beautiful video backdrop, then Bordeaux gets my pick. But let me be perfectly clear: Both concerts are phenomenally put together and are an utter delight to watch. I watched the Garorock concert one morning and the next day I happily popped in the Bordeaux set, even though they have the same track list.

The documentary, The Way Of All Flesh From The Inside, is a view of the band from the recording process of The Way Of All Flesh through to their performances with Metallica. Each step of the journey is given just enough time to tell the important facts while not bombarding the viewer with too much potentially unnecessary information. Rather, they give you enough to maintain your interest and then move onto the next subject.

Sometimes serious, sometimes humorous, the documentary mixes photography done by the band with video footage to follow their journey throughout Europe and the United States. There are also voiceovers of the band discussing exactly what it means to them to be a touring band, to travel the world and connect with their fans.

Perhaps the most incredible thing, at least for me, was how the documentary enhanced the beauty of nature. It is well known that many of Gojira’s lyrics focus on nature and the world around us, so perhaps this swayed my opinion. But seeing the joy and enthusiasm the members had while even doing something as simple as looking out of the window at a new landscape was honestly touching.

The collection also comes with a live CD featuring the full live set with some edits to make it all fit on one disc.

The Final Word: The Flesh Alive is a must-have for any fan of Gojira. The concerts are thoroughly entertaining to watch while the documentary mixes humor, information, and an ability to make the viewer feel and appreciate the wonder and beauty of nature, which the band thrives upon.

Got any thoughts/questions/concerns for Jonathan Barkan? Shoot him a message on Twitter or on Bloody-Disgusting!

Managing editor/music guy/social media fella of Bloody-Disgusting

Music

‘Lost Themes IV: Noir’ – John Carpenter Announces New Album & Releases New Music Video!

Published

on

Lost Themes IV
(l-r) Cody Carpenter, John Carpenter, Daniel Davies - Photo Credit: Sophie Gransard

John Carpenter has been teasing big news for a couple weeks now and all has been revealed this morning. Carpenter is back with Lost Themes IV: Noir from Sacred Bones Records!

Lost Themes IV: Noir is the latest installment in a series that sees Carpenter releasing new music for John Carpenter movies that don’t actually exist. The first Lost Themes was released in 2015, followed by Lost Themes II in 2016 and Lost Themes III: Alive After Death in 2021.

John Carpenter called the first Lost Themes album “a soundtrack for the movies in your mind.”

From John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies, Lost Themes IV: Noir is set for release on May 3 via Sacred Bones Records. The album pays tribute to Noir cinema!

In conjunction with the announcement, they’ve shared a music video for the album’s first single, “My Name Is Death”, a miniature noir film directed by Ambar Navarro, starring Natalie Mering (Weyes Blood), Staz Lindes (The Paranoyds) and Misha Lindes (SadGirl). “Noir is a uniquely American genre born in post-war cinema,” states Carpenter. “ We grew up loving Noir and were influenced by it for this new album. The video celebrates this style and our new song, My Name is Death.”

Sacred Bones previews, “The scene-setting new single marks new territory for Carpenter and his cohorts, propelled by a driving post-punk bassline that is embellished by washes of atmospheric synth, pulsing drum machine, and, at the song’s climax, a smoldering guitar solo.”

“Sandy [King, John’s wife and producer] had given John a book for Christmas, of pictures from noir films, all stills from that era,” Davies says of the lightbulb moment for Lost Themes IV. “I was looking through it, and I thought, ‘I like that imagery, and what those titles make me think of. What if we loosely based it around that? What if the titles were of some of John’s favorite noir films?’ Some of the music is heavy guitar riffs, which is not in old noir films. But somehow, it’s connected in an emotional way.”

Sacred Bones notes, “Like the film genre they were influenced by, what makes the songs on Lost Themes IV ‘noirish’ is sometimes slippery and hard to define, and not merely reducible to a collection of tropes. The scores for the great American noir pictures were largely orchestral, while the Carpenters and Davies work off a sturdy synth-and-guitar backbone. The noir quality, then, is something you understand instinctively when you hear it.”

“It’s been a decade since John Carpenter recorded the material that became the initial Lost Themes, his debut album of non-film music and the opening salvo in one of Hollywood’s great second acts,” the label explains. “Those vibrant, synth-driven songs, made in collaboration with his son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies, kickstarted a musical renaissance for the pioneering composer and director. In the years since, Carpenter, Carpenter, and Davies have released close to a dozen musical projects, including a growing library of studio albums and the scores for David Gordon Green’s trilogy of Halloween reboots. It helped that they grew up in a musical environment. Daniel’s dad is The Kinks’ Dave Davies, and he would pop by the L.A. studio – the same one the Lost Themes records are made in today – to jam, or to perform at wrap parties for John’s films. That innate free-flowing chemistry helps Lost Themes IV: Noir run like a well-oiled machine—the 1951 Jaguar XK120 Roadster from Kiss Me Deadly, perhaps, or the 1958 Plymouth Fury from John’s own Christine. It’s a chemistry that’s helped power one of the most productive stretches of John’s creative life, and Noir proves that it’s nowhere near done yielding brilliant results.”

Here’s the full Lost Themes IV: Noir track list:

1. My Name is Death
2. Machine Fear
3. Last Rites
4. The Burning Door
5. He Walks By Night
6. Beyond The Gallows
7. Kiss The Blood Off My Fingers
8. Guillotine
9. The Demon’s Shadow
10. Shadows Have A Thousand Eyes

The following physical variants will be available:

  • Sacred Bones Exclusive Red on Clear Splatter vinyl w/ Screen Printed 7” bonus track “Black Cathedral”, a Silver Foil Stamped Jacket and poster.
  • Sacred Bones Society Exclusive on Black and White Splatter on Clear w/ Screen Printed 7” bonus track “Black Cathedral”, a Silver Foil Stamped Jacket and poster.
  • All retail Transparent Red, with a Gold Foil Stamped Jacket and poster.
  • Indie Exclusive Tan and Black Marble, w/ Screen Printed 7” bonus track “Black Cathedral”, a Gold Foil Stamped Jacket and poster.
  • Rough Trade Exclusive Oxblood Red and Black Splatter, w/ Screen Printed 7” bonus track “Black Cathedral”, a Gold Foil Stamped Jacket and poster.
  • Shout Exclusive Black and Clear cloudy, w/ Screen Printed 7” bonus track “Black Cathedral”, a Gold Foil Stamped Jacket and poster.
  • Black LP, with a Gold Foil Stamped Jacket and poster.
  • CD
  • Tape

You can pre-save Lost Themes IV: Noir right now!

Lost Themes IV Noir

Continue Reading