Gojira, Photo by Hillarie Jason Photography

In an interview online with brothers Joseph and Mario Duplantier, Gojira has revealed that their new album, originally planned for release on Roadrunner Records next fall, will now be pushed back to early in 2016. Citing the scrapping some of the track finished in an earlier recording session from this past winter, as well as not wanting to cancel a heavily planned schedule of concert festivals and other tour dates this summer. The band has recently completed building a new studio in New York City, dubbed Silver Cord for their own use and other projects. Work on the follow-up to 2013’s L’Enfant Sauvage (Roadrunner) will be completed at Silver Cord and at the bands’ home base studios in Bayonne, FR.

Regarding the progress of new Gojira music:

Mario Duplantier: “The drums are done. Part of the guitars… almost all the guitars are done also. So we need the bass and the vocals at this point. Because… We were supposed to record around February, something like this. But we made a statement of the songs in February, and we thought the songs were not enough good, you know?! So we decided to… ‘Let’s put this song in the trash. Let’s just…’ We were super picky, like [we] never [were] in the past. We worked on each song super long. Usually we have ten songs, and we record ten songs and that’s it. This time we were so picky that we decided around February to just… ‘Let’s push the limit. Let’s do another song — maybe a better song.’ And Joe brought some crazy ideas, and I brought some cool ideas too, and together we built four new songs we thought were better than the [ones were had already written]. So we pushed the recording process and finally we started in April. So it’s why we couldn’t finish everything — because we had this tour also. It’s a summer tour planned — three months on the road. So we had two options: we can cancel the summer tour, but we didn’t wanna do that. So, finally, we did the drums and the guitar.”

Commenting on exactly what caused the delay of the new album:

Joseph Duplantier: “We’re thinking early next year. We were aiming for October this year, but, like Mario said, we had to push the recording. I think the difficulty was… Mario 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 tour dates:

Jun 16 : Circus- Helsinki, FI

Jun 18 : Tyrol- Stockholm, SE

Jun 19 : Tons of Rock – Halden, NO

Jun 20 : Copenhell- Copenhagen, DK

Jul 04: Les Feux de l’Été- Saint Prouant, FR

Jul 06: Rockhal – Esch Sur Alzette, LU

Jul 08: Z7 Konzertfabrik – Pratteln, CH

Jul 10: Musilac Festival- Aix Les Bains, FR

Jul 11: Kristonfest- Bilbao, ES

Jul 12: Arena – Madrid, ES

Jul 13: MEO Arena Sala Tejo- Lisbon, PT

Jul 15: Razzmatazz 2 – Barcelona, ES 

Jul 17: Dour Festival- Dour, BE

Jul 28: Festival Emmaus- Lescar, FR

Aug 08: Heavy Montreal 2015- Montreal, CAN

Aug 24: Doornroosje – Nijmegen, NL

Aug 25: Patronaat- Haarlem, NL

Aug 27: The Limelight- Belfast, UK

Aug 28: The Academy- Dublin, ER

Aug 29: Reading Festival- Reading, UK

Aug 30: Leeds Festival- Leeds, UK

Sep 19: Rock in Rio- Rio De Janeiro, BR

Sep 27: Santiago Gets Louder- Santiago, CL