From Mars to Sirius
| From Mars to Sirius | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Gojira | ||||
| Released | 27 September 2005 | |||
| Genre | Technical death metal, progressive metal, groove metal | |||
| Length | 66:52 | |||
| Label | Listenable, Prosthetic | |||
| Gojira chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| About.com |   |
| AllMusic | |
| The A.V. Club | B |
| Blabbermouth.net | 9/10 |
| Phoenix New Times | favorable |
From Mars to Sirius is the third studio album by the French progressive death metal band Gojira. A video directed by Alan Duplantier was filmed for the song "To Sirius". The album cover image bears a strong resemblance to the Sea Shepherd logo, an organization of which the band are known supporters.
A concept album, From Mars to Sirius relates the resurrection of a dead planet through an interplanetary quest, tackling environmental issues as well as broader themes of life, death, and rebirth. Explaining the meaning behind the album title, Joe Duplantier said in an interview that "In some cultures, Mars symbolizes war and Sirius peace. I'm simplifying! It is a journey of a state of war, even if in France we are preserved, but it can be a war within us, in our flesh, in our mind, a war with ourselves".
Listenable Records reissued the album on vinyl in September 2012 and in November 2015 in limited quantities. A 10th anniversary box-set was released on February 12, 2016, again through Listenable Records.
From Mars to Sirius was received positively by critics. AllMusic's Eduardo Riviera reviewed the album retrospectively, noting that the album marked a turning point for the band, "gaining them access into the exclusive top echelon of the world's progressive metal elite." He also noted the influences of bands such as Pantera, Meshuggah, and Neurosis on the album, particularly in the guitarwork and emphasis on atmosphere. Heaping praise on the album, Riviera wrote that "the fluidity with which utmost heaviness and delicate melodies were made to coexist within the scope of single songs like "Where Dragons Dwell," "Flying Whales," and "World to Come," was truly astonishing—as was the surprisingly seamless flow accomplished by the sequencing of these wildly disparate tracks, and the thematically conjoined esoteric subjects undertaken throughout. The final outcome was still not easy to digest, and admittedly just a tad bit overlong (Gojira's next challenge was definitely to be a little more concise), but compared to most of the impossibly dense (and often exhausting) prog metal available, From Mars to Sirius, struck a close to perfect balance between degree of difficulty and ultimate reward."
Blabbermouth's Keith Bergman made similar comparisons to Meshuggah and Neurosis, but wrote that "A grocery list of influences does GOJIRA no justice" and that "This is a masterpiece on par with anything Meshuggah or Mastodon have released." He described their musical style as "dark, churning and hypnotic, massively heavy but varied and surprising, never monotonous.", and their lyrics as "surprisingly positive and life-affirming, their words add humanity to even the most angry, mechanized portions of the album." Bergman concluded his review by praising From Mars to Sirius as an "immense, intense, and very impressive album."
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