When Gojira burst onto the international stage with 2005's From Mars to Sirius, they seemingly came out of nowhere. In truth, they just came from an unlikely source — Bayonne, France, not exactly a heavy-metal hot bed — and had already been grinding away, largely unknown, in their homeland for nearly a decade.
Almost two more decades have passed since, and today Gojira — vocalist-guitarist Joe Dupantier and his brother, drummer Mario, joined by guitarist Christian Andreu and bassist Jean-Michel Labadie — are respected as one of the most vital bands in heavy music, as important for their outspoken environmental message as they are for their trailblazing music.
That music spans seven full-length studio releases, from 2001's Terra Incognita to 2021's Fortitude, which we've painstakingly ranked below — from worst to the very best.
7. Terra Incognita
Where it all began. On Gojira's debut album, plenty of the band's signature dynamics are there to be found. Mario Duplantier's drum work is already off the charts on proggy cuts like "In the Forest" and "Love," and the gigantic palm-muted riffs are already in rhythmic lock-step with the double kick. Though Joe Duplantier's voice hadn't yet reached its full power, and Gojira's song structures weren't as epic as they'd later become, Terra Incognita remains a strong starting point for a generational band.
6. The Link
The Link, the band's second album, is where Gojira became their own beast. Mario Duplantier was experimenting with tribal drum beats, the riffs got bigger, and the group injected more dramatic moments into their songwriting and more atmospheric vibes into the mix. Tracks like "Remembrance" and "The Link" sound like they could've been included on From Mars to Sirius or The Way of All Flesh, paving the way for the signature Gojira sound that emerged in the mid-2000s.
5. Magma
Gojira's very own Black Album, Magma brought the band's sound down to its very basics on their 2016 offering, while retaining a world-class songwriting prowess. Colored by the recent death of the Duplantier brothers' mother, Magma is an emotional triumph along with a creative one, bringing some of Gojira's most tectonic riffs and most infectious leads. Every note is either a pummeling beast or a void-dwelling ghost. It's simply a marvel of modern groove metal.
4. L'Enfant Sauvage
2012's L'Enfant Sauvage opens with Gojira at their most ferociously rhythmic, then takes listeners on a journey. The front half of the album is all tremolo picking and double-kick drumming, just cracking skulls and blowing minds with some of the tightest playing you'll ever hear. The second half, meanwhile, opens up into more epic and expansive sounds, culminating in the elegiac "Born in Winter," the album's second most streamed cut after the pummeling title track.
3. Fortitude
Gojira harkened back to their Sepultura-inspired roots for their latest album, Fortitude, giving fans a more polished and perfected version of the most accessible side of their sound. The result is an album that feels like it takes place both in the jungle and in outer space, delivering metallic anthems filled with rich character and rhythmic brilliance. Only Gojira could make "Amazonia" and "Another World" work as back-to-back tracks and then throw in the left turn of "The Chant." Simply stunning.
2. From Mars to Sirius
Gojira's breakout third album is an undeniable masterpiece that falls just short of the top spot on this list. The heavily conceptual From Mars to Sirius is packed with modern classics like "Flying Whales," "Backbone" and "The Heaviest Matter of the Universe," featuring absolutely no skips and Gojira's best "elephants marching" riffs. The production is flawless, as are the performances from all four musicians. Few bands ever release something so fully formed, original or inspired.
1. The Way of All Flesh
This is where Gojira really became the Godzilla of metal. 2008's The Way of All Flesh is a transcendent opus that showcases the quartet's progressive death-metal sound at arguably both its proggiest and deathiest, with punishing riffing, ferocious vocals and complex song structures. "The Art of Dying" — arguably Gojira's single best song — remains an unfuckwithable composition, "Vacuity" boasts an absolutely mammoth lead riff and "Oroborus" is perhaps the most effective use of hammer-ons in modern metal. This is Gojira at their best — so far.
