The Way of All Flesh
Death is the central concern of The Way of All Flesh, but Gojira approach it through movement rather than stillness. The guitars and drums form tightly connected patterns that seem to pull against each other. A colder, more sharply defined sound makes the smallest rhythmic change feel significant, giving the album a tense and unusually focused atmosphere.
Oroborus begins with a repeating tapped guitar figure that remains clear inside the heavier arrangement. It is both a melodic idea and a rhythmic anchor. Joe Duplantier's vocal adds force without becoming the only source of expression, while the drums keep changing the emphasis beneath him.
Toxic Garbage Island compresses a great deal of variation into a relatively short song. The guitar parts stop and turn with remarkable accuracy, but the arrangement never loses its physical groove. The environmental subject connects individual mortality to a wider concern about destruction. Gojira's musical weight gives the argument an immediate presence.
A Sight to Behold introduces electronic textures and a processed vocal. The effect is strange enough to interrupt expectations, yet the later heavy section connects it to the album around it. The Silver Cord offers a quieter instrumental space, making the following attack more effective.
The Art of Dying is the record's most absorbing extended piece. Its percussion-led opening establishes an unsettling pattern before the full band develop the idea into something much heavier. Mario Duplantier's playing provides a strong thread through the changes. The arrangement demonstrates how a simple guitar movement can support a complicated emotional progression.
Some repetition works less well. Adoration for None holds its final figure beyond the point where it adds much tension, and the silence attached to the closing title track interrupts the album's momentum. Vacuity is more economical, using a deliberate groove to deliver a particularly clear statement. The record is most convincing when its formal precision serves that kind of emotional clarity, making mortality feel immediate without reducing the songs to a single mood.
