Mario Duplantier (Gojira) releases his drum solo for “Avalanche”

The drummer for the GRAMMY-winning French progressive metal band Gojira, Mario Duplantier, has continued his yearly tradition by contributing at least one intricate new drum solo, as per theprp. You can see him tear through his most recent piece, “Avalanche,” below.

Ondres is home to the French heavy metal group Gojira. The band was founded in 1996 under the name Godzilla. Since the band changed its name to Gojira in 2001, its lineup has remained the same: brothers Joe (vocals, guitar), Mario Duplantier (drums), Christian Andreu (guitar), and Jean-Michel Labadie (bass). Gojira is well-known for their technical and advanced death metal genres and lyrics, which frequently touch on topics of environmentalism, philosophy, and spirituality. The band has gone “from the utmost obscurity during the first half of their career to widespread global recognition in the second”.

Gojira became known as a top French metal band thanks to its first two albums, “Terra Incognita” (2001) and “The Link” (2003), as well as its stirring live performances. The silent film score for Maciste All’Inferno was written and performed for a one-night performance in Bordeaux. The British metal press highlighted its third album, the highly regarded “From Mars to Sirius” (2005), which featured “Backbone,” “The Heaviest Matter of the Universe,” and “Flying Whales.” After that, the band became well-known in North America after signing with Prosthetic Records. “The Way of All Flesh” (2008), the band’s follow-up album, debuted on the Billboard 200, and Gojira subsequently embarked on their first international headline tour.

In a cooperative setting with other metal musicians, the band started recording the “Sea Shepherd” EP. Gojira signed with Roadrunner Records in 2011. The group’s albums “L’Enfant Sauvage” (2012) and “Magma” (2016) were certified gold in France and reached at numbers 34 and 24, respectively, on the Billboard 200. On “Magma”, the band’s breakout album, Gojira abandoned death metal in favour of a simpler sound. “Another World” was their first Billboard-charting single, released in 2020. In its first week of release, “Fortitude” (2021), which topped the charts, was the best-selling record in the United States. Gojira became the main attraction in South America, Europe, and the UK in 2022. The band uses its own recording studios in New York City and France to produce their albums.