L'Enfant Sauvage (album)

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L'Enfant Sauvage
Studio album by
Gojira
Released26 June 2012
Recorded2011–2012
Studio
Genre
Length52:24
LabelRoadrunner
ProducerJoe Duplantier, Josh Wilbur
Gojira chronology
The Flesh Alive
(2012) 		L'Enfant Sauvage
(2012) 		Les Enfants Sauvages
(2014)
Singles from L'Enfant Sauvage
  1. "L'Enfant Sauvage"
    Released: 27 April 2012
  2. "Liquid Fire"
    Released: 4 June 2012
  3. "The Axe"
    Released: 18 September 2012
  4. "Explosia"
    Released: 27 September 2012
  5. "Born in Winter"
    Released: 25 March 2014

L'Enfant Sauvage (French for "The Wild Child") is the fifth studio album and major label debut by French heavy metal band Gojira. It was released 26 June 2012 via Roadrunner Records.[1]

Background[edit]

Gojira was going to tour with Lamb of God and Dethklok, but because of Randy Blythe's arrest in the Czech Republic, the tour was cancelled.[2] Gojira subsequently announced a headline tour of their own, which began in January 2013 with support from The Devin Townsend Project and The Atlas Moth.[3]

Writing and composition[edit]

The composition and pre-production of L'Enfant Sauvage were materialized in the southwest of France (Le Studio des Milans).[4] Gojira opted for more "power" and density of sound and emphasized more "epicness" in the structures of the songs.[5] It was co-produced and recorded by Josh Wilbur and Joe Duplantier in New York.[5][4]

L'Enfant Sauvage is partly inspired by François Truffaut's film of the same name,[6] which tells the true story of Victor of Aveyron, a child who was found alone in the woods with behaviors closer to a wild animal than a civilized human. "We are part of this world. And also there is this idea that an enfant sauvage, a child that grew up in nature, is not confronted with others, with emotions, with guilt and identity, so it would be a state where you are closer to the essence of things."

Frontman, guitarist, and songwriter Joe Duplantier spoke about the meaning of the album by saying, "When you become a musician, you don't have a boss telling you what to do so you have to be very responsible." He goes on to say "With freedom comes responsibility, so I'm asking myself, 'What is freedom? What does it mean to me?' L'Enfant Sauvage reflects on that. There's no answer though. There's just life and questions."[7]

Duplantier expanded on this idea in an interview with The Quietus, explaining that "Since the beginning, since the very first demo even, I've been obsessed with the human condition, the soul, why we are here and is there an answer to that question - the mysteries of life in general. Are we a body? Or are we more than that? And if we are more, then what are we? I'm full of questions, but there are no answers really, just intuition, and a strong intuition that we are more than just flesh and blood".

The song "The Gift of Guilt" was a reflection of Joe Duplantier on the theme of guilt, passed down from generation to generation.[6]

During the recording of the album, Joe Duplantier became a father. "It's a trip man, it's amazing. Of course I'm very influenced by what happened and talking about birth and becoming a dad is not completely disconnected, it's relevant in a way, but everything is influencing me when I'm writing."[8]

Touring and promotion[edit]

On 30 April 2012, the band performed a new song for the forthcoming album, the title track "L'Enfant Sauvage", at Rockstore in Montpellier.[9] Music and lyric videos have been released for five songs off the album: "Explosia",[10] "L'Enfant Sauvage",[11] "The Axe",[12] "Liquid Fire",[13] and "Born in Winter".[14]

The band toured North America in support of the album with the Devin Townsend Project and The Atlas Moth in 2013, and also launched a worldwide tour.[3][15] In March 2014 the band released a DVD/CD live album of their performance at the Brixton Academy in London on 24 March 2013 entitled Les Enfants Sauvages through Roadrunner.[16][17] It also featured a 60-page hardcover book featuring photographs of the band taken around the world in the course of the last few years of their touring, spanning over 150 shows.[16]

Reception[edit]

Critical reception[edit]

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic86/100[18]
Review scores
SourceRating
About.com[19]
AllMusic[20]
Alternative Press[18]
The A.V. ClubA−[21]
BBC Musicfavorable[22]
Blabbermouth.net9.5/10[23]
The Guardian[24]
Kerrang![18]
Pitchfork Media8.1/10[25]
PopMatters8/10[26]
Spin8/10[27]

L'Enfant Sauvage was met with universal acclaim from music critics. On Metacritic, based on 10 reviews, the album has received a score of 86/100, which indicates "universal acclaim".[18]

Writing for the BBC, Raziq Rauf wrote that "This is as flawless an extreme metal album as you'll hear, in 2012 or any other year", adding that "Gojira is one of the finest bands of our generation, and with L'Enfant Sauvage they've created another album to suit such a reputation." In his review of the album for The Guardian, Dom Lawson gave the album a perfect rating, writing that "Their fifth studio album sustains their trademark blend of unfathomable heaviness, structural invention and ecological-cum-existential poetry while subtly enhancing its dramatic and emotional impact", concluding that "overall this is a ferociously original piece of work that reaches its electrifying zenith on The Gift of Guilt: six minutes of sledgehammer sorrow built from riffs that sound like warning shots fired from the planet's doomed and turbulent core. This is metal taken to a higher plane of brilliance."

Accolades[edit]

Publication Accolade Year Rank
About.com Best Heavy Metal Albums 2012
18[28]
The A.V. Club Loud's best metal, punk, and hardcore of 2012 2012
6[29]
Entertainment Weekly Six best metal albums of the year 2012
6[30]
Loudwire 10 Best Metal Albums of 2012 2012
5[31]
Metal Storm The Best Alternative Metal Album 2012
1[32]
PopMatters The Best Metal of 2012 2012
7[33]
Revolver 25 Best Albums of the 2010s 2019
2[34]

Commercial performance[edit]

The album sold almost over 11,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 34 on The Billboard 200 chart. In comparison, the band's previous CD, The Way of All Flesh, opened with 4,200 units back in 2008 to land at No. 138. It also reached No. 17 digitally in France.[35]

It peaked at No. 6 on the Top Hard Rock Albums chart and No. 13 on the Top Rock Albums chart.[36]

Track listing[edit]

All music is composed by Mario Duplantier and Joe Duplantier. Lyrics by Joe Duplantier

No.TitleLength
1."Explosia"6:39
2."L'Enfant sauvage"4:17
3."The Axe"4:34
4."Liquid Fire"4:17
5."The Wild Healer" (instrumental)1:48
6."Planned Obsolescence"4:39
7."Mouth of Kala"5:51
8."The Gift of Guilt"5:56
9."Pain is a Master"5:07
10."Born in Winter"3:51
11."The Fall"5:25
Total length:52:24
Special edition bonus tracks [37]
No.TitleLength
12."This Emptiness"3:59
13."My Last Creation"4:08
Total length:60:31
Bonus DVD: Live at Les Eurockéennes 2009
No.TitleLength
1."Oroborus"5:31
2."The Heaviest Matter of the Universe"4:24
3."Backbone"4:17
4."Love"4:22
5."A Sight to Behold"5:33
6."The Art of Dying"8:17
7."Drum Solo"2:25
8."Clone"5:53
9."Flying Whales"6:10
10."Toxic Garbage Island"5:31
11."Vacuity"6:13
Total length:58:36

Personnel[edit]

Adapted from AllMusic.[36]

Gojira[edit]

Additional[edit]

  • UE Nastasi - mastering
  • Edward O'Dowd - design
  • Paul Suarez - engineer
  • Josh Wilbur - engineer, mixing, producer
  • Gabrielle Duplantier - photography

Charts[edit]

Chart (2012) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[38] 47
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[39] 64
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[40] 44
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[41] 28
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[42] 34
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[43] 11
French Albums (SNEP)[44] 11
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[45] 44
Irish Albums (IRMA)[46] 92
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[47] 12
Scottish Albums (OCC)[48] 48
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[49] 28
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[50] 23
UK Albums (OCC)[51] 53
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[52] 3
US Billboard 200[35] 34
US Top Hard Rock Albums (Billboard)[53] 6
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[54] 13
Chart (2019) Peak
position
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[55] 38

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Gojira: "L'Enfant Sauvage"". Pitchfork Media. 27 April 2012. Archived from the original on 19 November 2015. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  2. ^ Teitelman, Bram (27 July 2012). "Lamb Of God Tour Fallout: Knotfest Cancellations, Gojira Playing NYC ?". Metal Insider. Archived from the original on 8 July 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
  3. ^ a b Pasbani, Robert (22 October 2012). "Gojira and Devin Townsend Project Early 2013 Tour Announced". Metal Injection. Archived from the original on 17 January 2021. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
  4. ^ a b Horsley, Jonathan (21 January 2013). "Interview: Gojira's Joe Duplantier on touring hard and his New York State of Mind". Decibel. Archived from the original on 14 August 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2021. See: 9th paragraph
  5. ^ a b Daly, Joe (11 November 2016). "Every Gojira album in their own words". Metal Hammer. Archived from the original on 8 May 2020. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  6. ^ a b Guerin, Benoit (2 May 2012). "Gojira, un enfant sauvage au Stade de France" [Gojira, a wild child at the Stade de France]. Ouest-France. Archived from the original on 10 January 2021. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  7. ^ "L'enfant Sauvage". Gojira-music.com. 4 April 2012. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
  8. ^ "The Quietus | Features | In Extremis | 'We Are Part Of This World': Gojira Interviewed". The Quietus. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  9. ^ "Gojira Performs New Song In France". Blabbermouth. 1 May 2012. Archived from the original on 10 January 2021. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
  10. ^ Gojira (28 September 2012), Gojira - Explosia, retrieved 7 May 2016
  11. ^ Gojira (24 May 2012), GOJIRA - L'Enfant Sauvage, retrieved 7 May 2016
  12. ^ Gojira (19 September 2012), Gojira - The Axe, retrieved 7 May 2016
  13. ^ Gojira (12 October 2012), Gojira - Liquid Fire, retrieved 7 May 2016
  14. ^ Gojira (27 March 2014), Gojira - Born In Winter, retrieved 7 May 2016
  15. ^ Sandvall, Anders (30 December 2012). "Gojira with support at L'Enfant Sauvage World Tour 2012-13". Metal Rules. Archived from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 23 March 2021. Metal Rules was cited in The New York Times
  16. ^ a b Bowar, Chad (12 March 2014). "'Les Enfants Sauvages' – DVD/CD Review". Loudwire. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
  17. ^ Bliss, Tony (2 May 2013). "Gojira film Brixton Academy show for upcoming DVD!". Dead Press!. UK. Archived from the original on 17 January 2021. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
  18. ^ a b c d "L'Enfant Sauvage reviews at". Metacritic. 26 June 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  19. ^ Bowar, Chad. "Gojira - L'Enfant Sauvage Review". heavymetal.about.com. Archived from the original on 3 July 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  20. ^ O'Brien, Jon. "L' Enfant Sauvage review". AllMusic. 25 June 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  21. ^ Bergman, Keith. "Gojira: L'Enfant Sauvage". avclub.com. 27 June 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  22. ^ Rauf, Raziq. "L'Enfant Sauvage". BBC Online. 11 June 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  23. ^ Ogle, Ryan. "L'Enfant Sauvage". Blabbermouth.net. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  24. ^ Lawson, Dom. "Gojira: L'Enfant Sauvage – review". Theguardian.com. 21 June 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  25. ^ Currin, Grayson. "L'Enfant Sauvage". Pitchfork Media. 28 June 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  26. ^ Brown, Dean. "Gojira: L'Enfant Sauvant". PopMatters. 20 July 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  27. ^ Fury, Jeanne. "Gojira, 'L'Enfant Sauvage'". Spin. 26 June 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  28. ^ Bowar, Chad. "2012 Best Heavy Metal Albums". About.com Entertainment. About.com. Archived from the original on 4 June 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  29. ^ "Loud's best metal, punk, and hardcore of 2012". www.avclub.com. 12 December 2012. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  30. ^ Anderson, Kyle (19 December 2012). "Best and Worst 2012: The six best metal albums of the year". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  31. ^ "10 Best Metal Albums of 2012". Loudwire. 28 November 2012. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  32. ^ "Metal Storm Awards 2012".
  33. ^ "The Best Metal of 2012". PopMatters. 6 December 2012. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  34. ^ McKenna, David (23 December 2019). "25 Best Albums of the 2010s". Revolver. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  35. ^ a b "Gojira's "L'enfant Sauvage' Cracks U.S. Top 40". Blabbermouth.net. 4 July 2012.
  36. ^ a b "L' Enfant Sauvage - Gojira | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  37. ^ "Pré-Order the new album "L'Enfant Sauvage" Now!!". gojira-music.com. 1 May 2012. Archived from the original on 20 May 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  38. ^ "Gojira - L'enfant sauvage". Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  39. ^ "Gojira - L'enfant sauvage" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  40. ^ "Gojira - L'enfant sauvage" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  41. ^ "Gojira - L'enfant sauvage" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  42. ^ "Nielsen SoundScan Charts".[dead link]
  43. ^ "Gojira - L'enfant sauvage". Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  44. ^ "Gojira - L'enfant sauvage" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  45. ^ "Offizielle Deutsche Charts" (in German). offiziellecharts.de. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  46. ^ "Irish-charts.com – Discography Gojira". Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  47. ^ "Gojira - L'enfant sauvage". Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  48. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  49. ^ "Gojira - L'enfant sauvage". Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  50. ^ "Gojira - L'enfant sauvage". Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  51. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  52. ^ "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  53. ^ "Gojira Chart History (Top Hard Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  54. ^ "Gojira Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  55. ^ "Gojira - L'enfant sauvage". Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
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