Gojira‘s new full-length album “Fortitude” has officially been announced for an April 30th release date through Roadrunner Records. The band’s own Joe Duplantier produced the effort at his Silver Cord Studio in Queens, NY, while Andy Wallace (Nirvana, Rage Against The Machine) was brought on to mix the effort.
Today (February 17th) saw the debut of a Charles De Meyer directed video for the new single “Born For One Thing. It was filmed at the Royal Museum For Central Africa in Brussels, Belgium. Joe had the following to say about it:
“We have to practice detaching ourselves from everything, beginning with actual things. Own less possessions, and give what you don’t need away, because one day we’ll have to let everything go, and if we don’t, we’ll just become ghosts stuck between dimensions.”
Pre-orders for the album have also been launched and available here. Ever environmentally and socially conscious, the outfit once again have a message behind their music. In a newly published cover story feature with Kerrang! about the album, Joe said of the record:
“A few years ago, I began to become pessimistic about the future of humanity. Even though there is an awakening and many people are trying to better themselves, I feel like we’re going backwards. When you see the [now-former] American president on TV saying, ‘I don’t know if global warming is real!’ or I hear from my friend who teaches in high school that some of his students aren’t quite sure whether Hitler was a character in a movie or someone who really existed, it can feel incredibly discouraging. I’m a little bit drained, a little bit worn out. So when the pandemic happened, I was like, ‘Fine. Let it burn. Maybe it’s just the end for us – the parasite that humanity is.’”
That bout of pessimism would later play into the album, but not in an entirely negative way, as he later offered:
“Fortitude is what we need to display. It’s what we need to embrace. It’s what we need to be in a world where everything is uncertain – even the near future. Since the beginning of our band, we have promoted compassion versus competition and love versus hate. The point of ‘Fortitude‘ is to inspire people to be the best version of themselves and to be strong no matter what.
We have this incredible power that we totally ignore, and though it sucks to wake up in the morning and be caught up in the grind of life, there are all these moments where we can make a difference by our attitude; by our [perception]; by how we envision our own future and the future of humanity. It’s easy to despair and to lose faith. But at some point you’ve got to figure out where you stand.
You’ve got to ask what your attitude will be if this is the end of the world as we know it.”
During the interview, it is also revealed that the band had originally completed the album in early 2020 and intended to surprise release it last June, just ahead of their then planned 2020 summer touring with Deftones and Poppy.
While the band originally decided to hold on to the record in case the opportunity to immediately tour on it presented itself, they have since decided to go ahead and release it on its own. Should you be interested, there’s a lot more from Joe regarding the album to be found over at Kerrang!.
“Fortitude” track listing:
01 – “Born For One Thing”
02 – “Amazonia”
03 – “Another World”
04 – “Hold On!”
05 – “New Found”
06 – “Fortitude”
07 – “The Chant”
08 – “Sphinx”
09 – “Into The Storm”
10 – “The Trails”
11 – “Grind”
The band’s aforementioned North American tour with Deftones and Poppy has been rescheduled for this summer and currently runs as follows:
08/12 Minneapolis, MN – The Armory
08/14 Milwaukee, WI – Eagles Club/The Rave/Eagles Ballroom
08/15 Sterling Heights, MI – Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill
08/17 Chicago, IL – Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island
08/18 Toronto, ON – Echo Beach
08/20 Laval, QC – Place Bell
08/21 Uncasville, CT – Mohegan Sun Arena
08/23 Boston, MA – Agganis Arena
08/24 New York, NY – The Rooftop at Pier 17
08/27 Philadelphia, PA – The Met
08/28 Asbury Park, NJ – Stone Pony Summer Stage
08/29 Washington, DC – The Anthem
08/31 Pittsburgh, PA – Petersen Events Center
09/02 Indianapolis, IN – Amphitheater at White River State Park
09/03 Nashville, TN – Nashville Municipal Auditorium
09/04 Atlanta, GA – Cadence Bank Amphitheatre
09/06 Irving, TX – The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
09/07 Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall
09/08 San Antonio, TX – AT&T Center
09/10 Denver, CO – Pepsi Center
09/11 Albuquerque, NM – Isleta Amphitheatre
09/14 Phoenix, AZ – Arizona Federal Theatre
09/17 Los Angeles, CA – Greek Theatre
09/18 San Francisco, CA – Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
09/21 Seattle, WA – WAMU Theater
09/22 Portland, OR – Theatre Of The Clouds at MODA Center
