Gojira

Influences

• Morbid Angel — Joe Duplantier constantly cites Trey Azagthoth's crushing, lava-thick guitar tone and Pete Sandoval's blast beats as the core foundation for their early demo years. You hear that direct death metal lineage in the syncopated riffing throughout Terra Incognita. Without Covenant, there is no Godzilla.
• Sepultura — The tribal percussion and low-tuned groove assault of Chaos A.D. and Roots served as the rhythmic blueprint for Mario Duplantier's drum philosophy. The primal tom-heavy fills and socio-environmental rage across The Link come straight from the Cavalera playbook. Max Cavalera eventually recruited Joe to play bass on the debut Cavalera Conspiracy record because of that connection.
• Death — Chuck Schuldiner proved that progressive time signatures and philosophical lyricism could exist inside extreme metal without softening the punch. The intricate fretboard patterns and clean-cut precision on The Way of All Flesh borrow heavily from Human and Individual Thought Patterns. It gave them permission to get cerebral without losing the bite.
• Metallica — The band openly credit the master-tape tightness and downpicked rhythm mastery of Ride the Lightning for teaching them how to play as a single unit. You hear James Hetfield's percussive right-hand technique mirrored in Joe's rhythm work on every single record. It is the backbone of their entire stadium-level groove.
• Killing Joke — The cold, industrialized tribal stomp and dissonant chord work of Jaz Coleman's crew heavily shaped the band's mid-tempo atmosphere. You can track the hypnotic, apocalyptic drum pulses on Magma and Fortitude right back to albums like Pandemonium. They took post-punk dread and hardened it into metal armor.