GOJIRA frontman Joseph Duplantier has confirmed to Metal Injection that the band has commenced the songwriting process for the follow-up to 2016's "Magma" album. "We started to write new stuff maybe about a year ago," he said. "Seven months ago we started to jam, especially my brother [Mario, drums] and I, and maybe the other guys too, thinking that we're starting really, really early. By the time we think we're ready to record, we'll be ready. "Turns out we're going a little deeper in the writing and maybe we're thinking too much sometimes," he continued. "We did 20 kind of demos, songs, ideas. I can't say we have something yet. We're doing some research and more than before. Usually we write 12 songs and record 12 songs and release 12 songs. Now it looks like we're going to write 100 songs. It's a different approach and it's fun. We have new desires and a new way of doing things. I like to think it's going to be awesome. I feel it's going to be really exciting, for us at least. I don't know what people are going to think." According to Joseph, GOJIRA is planning to explore some new territory on the upcoming album. "I want to go back to some of the older influences that we have," he said. "We were always not a death metal band. Before that, I was a DIRE STRAITS fan, Michael Jackson. We have that in us and some progressive stuff too. We have all these things and we need to express that somehow, mixed with our own special sauce. We're working with stuff that sometimes is a bit surprising, even to us. Sometimes it's, like, 'What is this?' I don't know, let it sleep a little bit and go back to it. After this, we're going to go back into the studio and see what's going on." In 2016, GOJIRA's "Magma" staked its claim among the best albums of the year, earning Metal Hammer's coveted "Album Of The Year" title while also landing on Rolling Stone's "Top 20 Metal Albums of 2016," Consequence Of Sound's "Top 50 Albums of 2016" / "Top 10 Metal Albums of 2016" lists, and Pop Matters's "Best Metal of 2016" recap. Additionally, "Stranded", the lead single off "Magma", was named one of Stereogum's "100 Favorite Songs Of 2016." "Magma" also earned GOJIRA their first-ever Grammy nominations for "Best Metal Performance" and "Best Rock Album." GOJIRA's crushing track "Silvera" received a nomination for "Best Metal Performance", while "Magma" was nominated for "Best Rock Album" at the awards. "Magma" took the #1 spot on Billboard's Hard Rock Albums chart upon debut, making GOJIRA the first French band to hold the #1 spot on the chart in its nine-year existence. The release of "Magma" marked the highest chart debuts of GOJIRA's career, landing them at #4 on Billboard's Top Rock Albums chart, #6 on Billboard's Tastemaker Albums chart and Top 25 on the Billboard 200. Furthermore, GOJIRA earned career-high chart positions around the globe, including Top 10s in France, Canada, Switzerland, Austria, Finland and Norway, with Top 15 debuts in Australia and Germany. Last summer, GOJIRA was the support act on a number of North American dates on METALLICA's "WorldWired" tour.
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