GOJIRA

Following their previous concert packages "Link Alive" from 2007 and 2012's "The Flesh Alive", French groove-grind maestros GOJIRA serve up a beautiful hardbook bundle to showcase their latest live offering, "Les Enfants Sauvages".

Capturing an hour long set in support of their "L'Enfant Sauvage" album at Brixton Academy in London, England, this new DVD/CD live document comes delivered inside a sixty-page hardbook featuring round-the-world shots of GOJIRA over the course of their career.

The fret-scratching mayhem of the set list for "Les Enfants Sauvages" is bolstered with four selections from "L'Enfant Sauvage" (i.e. "Explosia", "The Axe", "The Gift of Guilt" and the title track) with three cuts off "From Mars to Sirius", those being "Backbone", "Flying Whales" and "The Heaviest Matter of the Universe". "Toxic Garbage Island" and "Oroborus" check in from "The Way of All Flesh" as does "Wisdom Comes" from "The Link".

Forget anything from "Terra Incognita", albeit what's presented here is ferocious enough to satiate any GOJIRA fan. Well-filmed with fourteen cameras and graced by crisp audio, GOJIRA once more proves their tenacity and precision onstage. "The Heaviest Matter of the Universe" and "Toxic Garbage Island" should be automatically cranked from any viewing or listening station, while the oppressive breakdown from Mario Duplantier on "L'Enfant Sauvage" is enough to dislodge framed pictures from walls, depending on how loud you can coerce your player. Joe Duplantier, Christian Andreu and Jean-Michael Labadie cement the deal by shoving their plundering shred and groove parts at their audience with little respite.

One of the highlights of "Les Enfants Sauvages" comes after GOJIRA tears up Brixton Academy with the maniacal grindfest of "Wisdom Comes" when the Duplantier brothers trade instruments for a quick jam session. Mario delves some winding guitar strums and is equally gruesome on the mike as Joe. The latter may not have all of the drumming acumen as his kin, but the whole thing is a load of fun as a prelude to the more serious "Oroborus", which creeps in and lures the Brixton crowd with spiraling bars before turning hostile on them.

GOJIRA have quickly built a stout reputation as one of the fiercest and most intelligent metal bands on the planet. Replicating their cover artwork for "L'Enfant Sauvage" onstage, the band weaves cerebral heaviness in front of shifting lighting schemes and film projections upon their highbrow backdrop. Better yet, GOJIRA are masters of their set time, moving along with specialized efficacy, even with Mario Duplantier's shimmying drum solo. There's room for Joe Duplantier to extend "The Axe" (one of GOJIRA's finest-penned songs) extra bars and to open "The Gift of Guilt" with extracurricular intro time to ensure a full hour of power. Brilliant as ever.