"We are very tired from the long tour we did, but we are very excited by this tour so we have lots of energy," said Mario. "This country for us is very important. U.S.A. is where the metal was born for us. We are huge fans of Metallica and all these kind of bands. We love the Floridian thing, Morbid Angel, Brutality, James Murphy. For us, this is very important and we try to play our best each time in this country."

Gojira's music is so powerful, full of interesting facets, especially Mario's crazy, enjoyable drum patterns which shift like the sands yet stay solid and support the band as needed. This Crusher scribe needed to know they have normal lives without practicing every second of the day!?

"I think a band like Meshuggah are very technical, or Decapitated. Despised Icon, for example," offered Mario, perhaps too humbly. "When I heard them it blew my mind. I cannot understand how they can play like this. I think we are a very old-school, death metal band, sometimes. We're not very complicated, I think."

In response to this, my friend, Simon Amfel, who plays drums himself, had to tease Mario,saying "Dude,c'mon?!" Mario's drumming and parts of the band's songs are deceptively simple, then will throw you for a loop,kick your ass and hand it back to you in pieces, grinning.

"We rehearsed together ten or twelve years," said Christian, underscoring how the band's bonds and familiarity produces great results. Mario added ,"We try to do our best. We worked together a lot in school and practicing on the weekends when young. I practice a lot between tours. Any chance we get we play together. It is always the same way, composing. It is always natural. It's only spontaneous. We knew we wanted to record in Los Angelos with Logan Mader, because we love our full sound and when everything is clear and the drum is powerful. When guitar is huge. We love the European sound but we feel closer to the U.S. sound in general. I love production like Chimaira, everything is clear and you put in your car and just, wow."

The Gojira guys met Logan Mader through Max Cavalera, who of course played with Mader during Logan's stint as an early guitarist of Cavalera's band Soulfly. Joe Duplantier befriended Max Cavalera after being invited by the Brazilian metal legend to play on the recent Cavalera Conspiracy record which reunited Max with his former Sepultura bandmate and brother, Igor Cavalera. Duplantier played bass on the Cavalera Conspiracy record, a disc which thrilled metal fans everywhere.

"Logan Mader is a very cool person, very nice," said Mario. "Joe went to his studio in L.A. and called me up and told me and we decided to go to his studio. I think the Cavalera Conspiracy will be very important in our career, because Joe came back from the experience and knew it was possible to record in America. We were maybe closed in on ourselves in our French way and we love to open our mind and take a plane. Everything is possible and the Cavalera Conspiracy showed us that. The hardest part of making The Way Of All Flesh was we had to make choice of label and production and how to find money," said Mario. "We had only four months to compose but we had always problem of money. We'd play and sometimes someone would enter the practice room and say, 'We don't have enough money,' for something and we'd say, 'Shit,' but we kept going."

"There was a lot of pressure," said Christian. "It's true. As Mario said, we had a small place to rehearse and were in our spirit. We are like in a bubble when we compose. We try to be ourselves. We don't care if people like it or not, we just make our music."

"If we don't like the music we don't keep it," said Mario. "My frustration was we didn't have enough time to compose because we already had a date for recording." Listening to the multi-layered and rewarding plunge into the depths of The Way Of All Flesh, there's no way you can tell. It holds serious water and feels more thought-out yet smooth and unforced, which is more than most bands ever pull off. Imagine what Gojira could do with a major label deal like Mastodon's?! "

Soon it was show time! Concert openers Car Bomb from Long Island delivered a very proficient set that sounded absolutely perfect but was surprisingly not as threatening a spectacle as I would have hoped. The band delivered top notch tortured musicianship, sure, but their stage presence was rather lacking. Not every band playing tech-metal or weirdo music can be as animated on stage as The Dillinger Escape Plan or Candiria. That's an admittedly high bar, but one I hold bands to because I have seen it met. It was funny, however, when screamer Michael Dafferner mentioned The Chariot were up next and were very energetic guys. Greg Kubacki's frightening guitar heroics were admirable, and I was very eager to Car Bomb band live, but after their set I realized I much preferred them on record. There just wasn't much that was as visually stimulating as their music deserved, especially when Dafferner told a pretty old joke that's been around the block awhile about masturbating when seeing a baby in a microwave. Maybe it was an off night, but at least their music was deadly precise to an awesome degree. Elliot Hoffman is a sick drummer and the band even held their own on a recent 7" split with the mighty Burnt By The Sun!

The Chariot were up next, Georgia's metalcore heroes, and they certainly did pack a wallop. "Back To Back" from The Fiancee was a highlight, cacophonous and proud. While I am sick of seeing guitarists in heavy bands that emo kids like spin their guitar around their necks by the strap, the acrobatics of The Chariot got pretty damn impressive despite a few cliches. Vocalist Josh Scogin made sure we knew this was his time on the stage, launching the mic stand high in the air and making numerous people in the crowd flinch. In fact, the group even threw instruments between members at points, rolling in waves of feedback ecstasy. I am not sure how dogmatic they are about interpreting the Bible, which I view as a flawed document pieced together and manipulated by humans through history, but their passion is awesome and they have a great DIY aesthetic. They seem very chill as well, maintaining a jokester's swagger and down to earth cool even as they levitate into the fucking air. The trick is not being too smug while doing it, like numerous newer bands who go through the same motions they've seen other bands do a million times without the real adrenaline to back it up that the Chariot have. They even hand stamped the artwork on thousands of covers for War And Rumors Of Wars, to give the CD a more personal touch.

I spoke with excellent new-ish Chariot drummer David Kennedy about what it felt like to be on Gojira's tour.

"It's been a lot of fun. We had mixed feelings about it because it's a very metal tour," said David. "Their fans are not the fans that would usually like us, maybe. We've gotten some really good feedback and especially since our CD has come out, a lot of our own fans have been coming out more. We had a record release in New Jersey yesterday at a small store. It went really well. We got there and there were, like 6 kids there we knew were gonna sing. We thought, if we play our music in this store it's gonna get trashed! But it was cool, too. About 50 kids showed up and it was a lot of fun. I'm really excited to play California because I'm a new member of the band and have never played the West Coast. It'll be really hot, but I'm excited." Fans of any kind of heavy music should still take note of Kennedy's drumming, because his playing has great character.

Finally Gojira took the stage, playing a relentless set. Joe Duplantier brought the crowd to higher and higher peaks, urging us to "C'mon! This is the big city!" He owned the front of the stage with his cohorts by his side, the band ripping through riff after deadly riff. Duplantier's vocals are a very cool blend of melodic scream singing and nasty growling. It never sounds affected and you know he is really feeling it, something which gives the band more emotional punch yet again.

It was funny seeing Gojira live after speaking to them, because during the interview pre-show Christian and Mario were so laid back and cool, yet live the band wreak pure havoc. After we interviewed them there was a little bit of time before Car Bomb went on and so we went to a nearby saloon to pound $3 happy hour beers and chat with the cute bartender girl. Another contrast to the Gojira fellows' mellow, thoughtful vibes was the unmistakeably NYC moment we witnessed. A bus was stopped right outside Blender Theatre and the door was closed. It was about to pull away when a bum ran for it hoisting a huge backpack. The driver saw and actually stopped and reopened the door, which prompted the bum to scream,"Thank you...Motherfucker!" How great is that!?

Anyway, I generally do not mosh all that often anymore and somehow during Gojira's set I kept finding myself back in the pit, even for "Backbone"! That song has a crazy, crazy, crazy breakdown. Here's another example of Gojira's persuasive power. Pre-show a security guard kicked Simon and I off of the stairs we were sitting on, and by the end of the night the same guard had no shirt on and was moshing in the pit to "Flying Whales". That song in particular, about flying whales from space who teach the main character of From Mars To Sirius how to fly to Sirius and find enlightenment, brought the crowd up off our feet into a giant circle pit, jumping and stomping with glee.

With due respect to the other bands, there was no comparison with what Gojira brought to the stage. The robotic hypnosis metal of "A Sight To Behold" had girls and guys alike dancing and thrashing about, caught in a tractor beam, drawn towards the flame. "The Art Of Dying" was also amazing to see live, as earlier in the day we were listening to TWOAF and wondering how Mario manages to pull off the complex rhythms of the percussion intro. "Take no possessions, I would rather travel light," may just be the most zen lyric about dying ever sung, in death metal certainly, but also in any other genre that springs to mind. By the time the song’s massive dirge ending repeated over and over in all its glory, the room was irretrievably past the point of awe.

This is a band you can practically worship, who will make you believe in metal again. My friend Simon had practically stopped listening to music because the old stuff got too old and he didn't like new bands, until hearing Gojira. I told Christian this and he lit up enthusiastically, saying,"This is why we play music!"

For another similar case, guitarist Ian W. of Upstate,NY up and coming metallers Cold War Survivor was at the Blender show. His band's recent self-released Bloodworth album was definitely influenced by Gojira at times and Ian is also friendly with Joe Duplantier. "I'm very happy to be here," said Ian. "I've loved this band for a long time and am ready to support. I met Joe the last time they played New York City. I'd been to France in 2001 and a friend of mine played me Gojira's debut Terra Incognita. I was blown away and brought it back. I talked to Joe over email for awhile and it has been so great to see them get more and more popular."

Gojira deal with a lot of duality thematically. Good and evil, nature's beauty and destruction, life and death, they all have a seat at the table. In the song "To Sirius" Joe sang "From the strength of God, we go to the power of Goddess." The Way Of All Flesh seemed to be about accepting death as a part of our lives, and I wondered what inspired Gojira to write this record at this time?

"I think it's part of life. We try to talk about death very simply. It's not morbid or pessimistic. It's just something we all will do," said Mario, earlier in the night. "We all will die and we won't bring material to the other life. It's a reflection about life in general and what can we do in our life. We all want the big car and big house but we will all still die. It's a reflection."

"I think Joe is a philosopher," added Christian. "On the first album he speaks about introspection, on the second CD, The Link, he speaks about the link between all of us together. From Mars To Sirius he is a traveller and opened his mind and speaks about planets. The new CD he speaks about death. It makes sense. We are thirty years old so it is time to speak about it.” [laughing]

That last comment made me sweat as I have just turned thirty one and am just getting used to it, but rest assured neither I nor Gojira are planning to kick the bucket soon!

"Joe put a lot of his own experience on this album. We talk about something like the death of something because From Mars To Sirius we were in our own practice room and were in the forest in France," said Mario. "After From Mars To Sirius we did gigs all around the world and we changed a lot. Inside the band things changed. This album is a result of something changing, a mourning. We are less naive. I was naïve, 'Ahh, the world is beautiful!'. I saw many things travelling, pollution and violence. After this travel I was very different. It was positive at the same time. Something changed in our vision."

"We want to share this vision to have an impact for you," said Christian. "A lot of people. Just to speak about a plastic bag in the sea, it is real and happens. At this moment, a lot of people speak about ecology. It is more realistic."

Face it folks, we all love gore bands, but you can't always relate it to your life and go kill someone with an axe. Gojira is more rooted in reality. If you're skeptical of their environmental streak, sure, it's admittedly easy to tease a band with a green, earth-friendly message in heavy metal. Metal is known more for butchery and insensitivity, but listening to Gojira will soon change and open your mind if it was that closed. These days we should all be paying more attention than ever to this planet. I must admit, though, it is fun to sing your own fake hippie-metal lyrics about “tofutti cuties” and “echinacea tinctures” in a cookie-monster growl, if you feel like giving it a try. Simon and I were trying to write our own “green-metal” joke lyrics on the train to Manhattan before the event, and I worked in a health food store for a long time, so had lots of funny ammunition to draw from.

Gojira has a sort of spiritual side to the band but it comes across more as massive respect for the vastness of the Universe than a dogmatic code. They put themselves into their music and it reflects them, but at the same time they can tour with bands who have very different beliefs. Gojira have shared the stage with Impaled Nazarene and now, The Chariot. "We know that you have to be open. We are not closed or extreme, but we say our opinions," said Christian. "We love Car Bomb and the Chariot. They are really cool and very good on stage. Each band has a strong personality."

Personality is what metal and heavy music is all about, and it is our way to unite under the flag of loud noise before we go the way of all flesh and slowly we rot. This tour is a great way to show your colors and live a little, before it's all over.