GOJIRA Shows Postponed Due To Death In Family

French progressive metallers GOJIRA have postponed their next three shows after the mother of the band's guitarist/vocalist Joseph Duplantier and drummer Mario Duplantier passed away unexpectedly last night. Affected dates are: Luxembourg on July 6, Martigny on July 7 and Prattein on July 8.

Says GOJIRA in a statement: "Best efforts will be made to reschedule these dates, and refunds will be available at point of purchase.

"We sincerely thank all of you for your understanding and support during this difficult time."

Joseph previously told RockSverige.se that fans can expect to see the next GOJIRA album sometime in early 2016. He explained: "We were [originally] aiming [to release it in] October this year, but we had to push the recording. I think the difficulty was… Mario [Duplantier, drums] brought a lot of ideas on the table… very challenging drum patterns. It's less complicated than before. It's more… I wanna say it's more straight to the point. That's what we were doing since we started. We're getting rid of layers and complicated things, just to keep the core of the idea. There's always an idea behind a song, and sometimes it gets too crowded. So we're trying to keep the core of each idea. So the energy that Mario has, it's a big signature for our band, GOJIRA — the drum patterns and the double-kick stuff. And I have my own impulse. So it's mainly Mario and me composing… I think the fans know that. And one of the biggest difficulties is to come together on these songs and to create something that, okay, we both feel like, 'This is it. This is the song.' It took a while to get there. Sometimes, on previous albums, Mario wouldn't be totally satisfied — like three [or] four songs — and for me, I [would be] like, 'Eh, this song is just like a drum solo with guitars on it.' And this time, I think we really found something — a balance. [It's] very powerful and exciting. We're very excited about the new record."

GOJIRA's fifth album, "L'Enfant Sauvage", sold almost 11,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 34 on The Billboard 200 chart.

"L'Enfant Sauvage" (which translates to "The Wild Child") was recorded at Spin Recording Studios in Long Island City, New York with co-producer Josh Wilbur (LAMB OF GOD).