GOJIRA
ALIEN WEAPONRY / EMPLOYED TO SERVE ALEXANDRA PALACE, LONDON
France’s groove metal expansionists elevate the capital
REVIEWING GOJIRA’S MOST recent album, Fortitude, in 2021, Hammer concluded: “If they aren’t playing arenas at the end of this album cycle, it’s probably your fault.” That’s because those songs were genetically engineered for big rooms. They condensed the French behemoth’s technical prog/groove metal bludgeonings into anthems accessible and socially conscious enough to ignite a revolution.
In the two years since, the heavy metal masses have lifted Gojira to monolithic status. Fortitude’s tracks have been streamed a total of 97 million times, and the band’s first UK tour since 2019 sees them enrapture the 10,000-plus-capacity Alexandra Palace. But before extreme metal’s greatest kaiju can all but level this Grade II-listed building, EMPLOYED TO SERVE sneak in a rampage of their own. The metalcore hellraisers let the material of new album Conquering live up to its name by taking over the venue. Single Mark Of The Grave’s mid-paced percussion epitomises the band’s MO of jamming hardcore through a filter of 90s groove metal. All the while, the five-piece fill the stage neatly, with singer Justine Jones proving an early visual standout in her funerary black dress. ETS are already one of the British underground’s leaders, and it seems like they’re destined for bigger things yet.