Magma Songs Ranked

Magma is the sixth studio album from the French heavy metal band Gojira. The album was released on 17 June 2016 through Roadrunner Records. Magma was recorded at the band’s studio in New York City, and was produced by Joe Duplantier, mixed by Johann Meyer and mastered by Ted Jensen. The album has been noted as a stylistic departure from the band’s previous albums, featuring a more accessible atmospheric sound and more prominent use of clean vocals. Magma was dedicated to the Duplantier brothers’ mother. The album sold 17,000 copies in its first week of release in the United States, charting at number 24 on the Billboard 200, making Magma the band’s highest sales and chart debut until Fortitude. Magma had sold 400,000 copies worldwide in its first eight months. album was nominated for Best Rock Album, and the single “Silvera” was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards. Here are all of Magma songs ranked.

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10. Liberation

“The closer Liberation, which sounds like their take on Planet Caravan, the only song left to talk about is Low Lands.Beyond the thick stoner vibe, what makes this one standout is that it is melody and harmony defined (for Gojira at least). It starts mellow and maintains the harmonious approach throughout.”

9. Yellow Stone

“There’s so many clever tricky ideas on this album it shows Gojira have hit a new level of composition and expression. They have expanded their singing to include clean, harmonized vocal passages which are totally hypnotic and all encompassing. Their lyrics have always had a progressive, environmental message which is certainly represented here.”

8. Only Pain

“Only Pain kinda takes away the selling point of Stranded. Otherwise its somewhat tedious when the main riff is a straightforward start-stop riff and the chorus is just washy loud rock chorus.”

See more: Gojira Albums Ranked

7. Pray

“Pray has the unfortunate position of following the title track, but its one of the better pieces. More standard Gojira in approach, but the drums get to show off way more on this one, both in some of the groovier passages and the pummeling fills of the chorus.”

6. Low Lands

“Beyond the thick stoner vibe, what makes this one standout is that it is melody and harmony defined (for Gojira at least). It starts mellow and maintains the harmonious approach throughout. The quickened drumming serves as good interplay with the light guitar phrases, and the somber vocals are gluing it all together.”

5. The Cell

“Then we have songs like The Cell which is alright, but sound like its some throwaway song from previous sessions, brought in because the simplicity fits the overall sound of the album. While a more aggressive number, the problem is that a simple song like this that still relies on being loud and aggressive still can suffer from its simplicity.”

See more: Gojira Songs Ranked

4. Magma

“The same goes for the title track, which seems to very directly be a song of mourning, and “Pray” which references their hope, but sequenced after the mourning feels especially bleak. The album’s production is great – the guitars have a huge speaker-filling resonance and the presence of the vocals changes with the tone of the songs, sometimes hazy and distant, sometimes high and direct in the mix.”

3. The Shooting Star

“The opener The Shooting Star is a pristine example of this, with the dusty tones rounding off each riff and the drums having a more organic touch to the backbeat. Silvera sounds more like familiar Gojira but redefined through a more melodic channel. The guitar lead unified with the vocal line is effective, and the spanish flavor makes all the better.”

2. Stranded

“Stranded, the flagship single, is an even worse offender for a different reason. It tries to standout with the whammy bar effect, but the fact that they use that same effect in a later song Only Pain kinda takes away the selling point of Stranded.”

1. Silvera

“Silvera” is generally regarded as a standout and it’s certainly filled with real emotion but like a lot of this album, it’s very jagged and cluttered, it feels like all of those conflicting emotions that went into the recording process all simultaneously thundering, and it’s a little exhausting.”