GOJIRA Frontman JOSEPH DUPLANTIER Says 'Magma' Songwriting Process Was 'A Nightmare'

Guitar Mania conducted an interview with guitarist/vocalist Joseph Duplantier of French progressive metallers GOJIRA on June 5 at the Rock In Vienna festival in Vienna, Austria. You can now watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On the writing and recording process for GOJIRA's new album, "Magma":

Joseph: "[The whole process took], I wanna say, two years, to write all the songs. And we wrote more songs and dumped maybe two-thirds of all these songs and we kept just the core of what we thought was the best.

"It's such a nightmare. One day we're super-happy with a new thing we did, and then we both [Joseph and brother Mario Duplantier, who plays drums in GOJIRA] listen to it at home, and we come back and say, 'Out.' Sometimes it's good, but in the long run, after two or three weeks, we realize, 'Oh my God! This is so depressive. We need to get rid of that song.' You know what I mean? So it takes a while to find the treasure. It takes a long time.

"People are, like, 'Oh my God! You're so slow — four years before you release a record.' [And I'm], like, you know what? You need time to really do something. Bands releasing albums every year, they're either geniuses or there's something I don't understand… or it's not good. You've gotta take the time. So that's what we did. It was very rough. We were so hard on the songs. And at the end, I don't know if it's better or worse. Sometimes it's good to be spontaneous."

On how GOJIRA has evolved over the last four years:

Joseph: "Gracefully, I think. I think we did evolve pretty good, because we kept the anger and the hunger, and we added a bit of maturity. We feel more comfortable with our craft, and we're not scared of what people will say or think."

"Magma" was released on June 17 via Roadrunner Records. The follow-up to 2012's "L'Enfant Sauvage" was recorded at Joseph Duplantier's Silver Cord Studio in Queens, New York.