Gojira - Fortitude (LP)

Gojira’s Fortitude finds a band at the height of its powers, drawing a clear line between ferocity and uplift without dulling either edge. Released April 30, 2021 on Roadrunner Records and made at their own Silver Cord Studio in Queens, it plays like a manifesto wrapped in riffs. Joe Duplantier has talked about the record as a call to courage and compassion, and you feel that steady push from the first surge of guitars to the final grind of the closer. This is their seventh studio album, and it has the self-possession of a group that knows exactly what it wants to say.

If you came to Gojira for serrated, tectonic riffing and those famous pick scrapes, you will not be left waiting. Mario Duplantier remains a marvel behind the kit. His drum parts never settle for obvious choices, but they still slam in the gut. Jean-Michel Labadie’s bass growls under Christian Andreu’s churning guitars, and Joe’s voice sits right in the eye of the storm, capable of a roar or a rallying cry. The opener hits with nervous energy and a lyric about shedding attachments, an idea Joe drew from Buddhist and Hindu texts. It is not posturing. It is the thread that ties this whole record together.

Amazonia is the flashpoint, a track that nods to Sepultura’s earthy groove while channeling it into a focused protest. The band paired the song with a month-long charity drive that benefited the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, auctioning items from friends across heavy music to raise funds. The video splices the stomp of the riff with stark images of deforestation and Indigenous resistance, and the song’s jaw-harp twang and percussive clatter make its message feel carved into wood and stone. It later earned a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance, and the album itself was nominated for Best Rock Album at the 64th Grammys. Awards do not make a record, but they do point to how widely this one connected.

Fortitude shines in the quieter gambits too. Another World landed early with an animated sci-fi clip back in 2020, and on the album it serves as a mid-tempo breather with a melancholy hook that lingers. The brief instrumental Fortitude feeds straight into The Chant, a simple, communal melody that feels like a street protest scored for voices and floor toms. Hold On rides a similar wave, stacking harmonies over a percussive pulse before the guitars kick down the door. Even the most melodic moments never lose tension. Gojira always sound like a live band, and on this album you can picture them lining up on a festival stage, holding a crowd in their hands with a single repeated line.

When the band presses the accelerator, the gears mesh perfectly. Into the Storm operates on a hammering triplet groove that would have fit on their heaviest records, but the chorus blooms instead of breaking. Sphinx swings a blade of a riff in wide arcs. The final track, Grind, is as advertised. It is one of those album closers that gathers everything that came before, then spikes it into the dirt. The production, handled in-house by Joe with a mix from Andy Wallace, keeps everything tall and clear. You can hear the scrape of pick on string, the air in the toms, the grit in the vocal cords. There is no murk to hide in.

Critical reception made sense of the feeling many fans had on first listen. Major outlets praised the balance of muscle and melody, and the way the band widened its palette without abandoning the punch that made them matter in the first place. For longtime listeners who came up on From Mars to Sirius or The Way of All Flesh, Fortitude reads as evolution rather than reinvention. For new listeners who found the band through Magma, it confirms that the melodic streak was not a detour. It was a door they planned to keep open.

On vinyl the record breathes even bigger. The low-end heft of Labadie’s bass and the snap of Mario’s snare sit beautifully in a room, and the cleaner passages on The Chant and Another World gain space and shimmer. If you are hunting for Gojira vinyl, this is a must. Fortitude vinyl is easy to live with on a shelf next to Magma, and it makes a strong argument for exploring more Gojira albums on vinyl. If you like to buy Gojira records online, keep an eye on independent shops. A Melbourne record store or any of the good spots that ship vinyl records Australia wide will often get limited variants, and this is a band whose sleeves and pressings reward the collector’s itch.

Fortitude is heavy music with a steady heart, the kind of album that builds resolve while it rattles your walls. Gojira aim for impact you can feel and ideas you can carry, and they hit both targets.