Review and gallery : Dan Maynard

It’s another night of Good Things sideshows and tonight it’s none other than our favourite heavy hitting French legends Gojira. Sunday saw Gojira play a brutal day set to a massive crowd, punters filling the main stage grounds to witness one of metals heaviest bands. Tonight is clearly no exception and Eatons Hill, one of Brisbanes biggest indoor venues, is filled to the brim with some very excited and pumped fans.

We have one support tonight, but there are no complaints on that side of things as it’s Italian metal veterans Lacuna Coil, who also shared a set at Good Things on Sunday to their own massive crowd, filling up the second stage. Taking to the stage to the screams of adoring fans, with the intro to Blood, Tears, Dust thundering across the room, the band explode into their set, roaring through a massive lineup of tracks, focusing heavily on their latest album, 2019s Black Anima as this is the first time Lacuna have had a chance to play anything from this album to Australian Audiences.

Honestly, I’m a little far behind on the Lacuna Coil discography, but holy hell does this set remind me of just how incredible the Milan natives are at what they do. I’m reminded of the natural sounding collaboration of duelling vocalists Cristina Scabbia and Andrea Ferro and just how much it can add layers to the sound of an already brutally melodic band. I’m pretty sure I’ll be going on a Lacuna Coil binge.

It’s time for Gojira, mother fucking Gojira! The stage floor fills up with the thickest of stage smoke I’ve seen in a long and I don’t mean the the air, I mean the most ominous and bone chilling crawl of thick smoke gravitates across the stage floor and drowns out into the crowd like something from a fantasy horror movie. With not a second to waste, we’re thrown into the intro of Born For One Thing, the opening track from 2021s hit album Fortitude. That bellowing snare cracking across the crowd with piercing dual harmonics and then, as the song kicks in it’s like a punch in the gut, in the best way possible if you can imagine that.

Gojira are well known for delivering some of the heaviest riffs the world have ever heard, and hearing them in a live setting is something you can’t quite explain, you just have to experience it. The sound of Joe Duplantiers voice as it reverbs across the room, it’s a perfect marriage with the band, it hits this sweet spot without being too high end and doesn’t sit too low to be lost in the mix. The band have perfected the art of tone, sound and energy. Songs like Flying Whales, Silveria and The Chant are perfect examples of this.

It’s L’enfant Sauvage that tears the house down for me. It is without a doubt, one of the greatest metal songs, period. And in a vast room such as Eatons Hill, this song can only do one thing, melt faces. But L’enfant Sauvage isn’t the end of it, we still get Toxic Garbage Island and The Gift of Guilt before ending with a massive encore, finishing with Amazonia. Track after track, tonight’s set is nothing short of brutal, spectacular, mesmerising….look, there’s not enough words to describe tonight’s performance.

Tonight, if there was anything to prove, it’s two things….Gojira are still at the top of their game, bringing some of the biggest sounds to a live show you’ve may ever witness. Secondly, there should be no reason to ever miss a Gojira tour if they come to your town. The French know how to metal and they metal fucking good.

CHRCK OUT OUR RECENT GOJIRA INTERVIEW HERE: