Full album sets are fairly common these days, especially if an album is celebrating an anniversary. Though can be assured Gojira will not be playing any of their albums front to back, and that includes their 2005 album From Mars to Sirius.
Gojira frontman Joe Duplantier explained in a recent interview with Rolling Stone France that listening to a recorded album is an entirely different experience than seeing a band live: “We already tried it in rehearsal, but it doesn’t work.
“For me, listening to an album is like lying on a bed, headphones on, following a story, with some crazy things happening.” Which is a great way of looking at it – recorded music and live energy are two different things, and trying to make one into the other could really make for an unconvincing live show. Plus we just got a live-in-studio anniversary set around Gojira‘s From Mars to Sirius, so at least there’s that.
Duplantier also touched on the long-awaited new Gojira record (apparently due out in 2026), which he said is being worked on both on and off the road: “We have a mobile studio, so we can also work on it while on tour. [The album is gradually taking shape and] we have some solid foundations and some tracks already have demos.”
Despite the progress, Duplantier noted there have been some disagreements within Gojira that resulted in new ideas being born: “These are precious things, because it means the band’s message is becoming more refined.”
At this year’s Bloodstock Open Air festival, Gojira drummer Mario Duplantier confirmed that the band’s long-awaited new album will finally arrive in 2026: “We already did record some drums and guitars and basses,” Duplantier told Bloodstock TV’s Oran O’Beirne. “It took us a long time. We needed that time, I think, just to make sure we are all on the same page, make sure what Gojira is bringing next is strong enough.
“Also, we don’t have that much pressure. We are not a young band anymore… We’ve been a band for 30 years, so Gojira is already an established band. It doesn’t mean that we can be lazy — it doesn’t mean that — but it’s very crucial to take the time to bring something fresh and new and powerful.”
He added: “For the new songs, we took so much time just to make sure everything is fine and powerful enough and — I don’t know — smart enough as well. But it’s on the way, it’s on the way. 2026, for sure.”
In a separate interview with Le Parisien, Duplantier teased what fans can expect from the as-yet-untitled album. “It’s almost finished. We’re going back to big guitar riffs and a more metal, but more modern, sound,” he said. “There are two more songs to refine. We wanted to move quickly, but we didn’t succeed. We thought about it so much that we almost got lost. It’s harder to match our tastes than when we were 20, and that’s normal.”
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