Martyr

Martyr is a French Canadian death metal band that has challenged the genre's standards to an unrivaled extent. Despite their lack of exposure and touring, they are a popular band among the death metal community.

Dan Mongrain is the frontman, lead guitarist, and composer of Martyr. Part of what separates Martyr from other bands are the jazz fusion elements that Dan incorporates into the music. His soloing style especially showcases this aspect, commonly being improvisation over a series of dissonant chords.

The most recent Martyr album, Feeding The Abscess, is a particularly exotic death metal album. What started as a metal band with progressive elements has evolved into a monolith of metal. Song structures, melodies, rhythms, chord progressions...all of these are warped into an unconventional mix of extreme musicianship. Here's a song from their 2nd album, Warp Zone.



..and now, a cover of "Perpetual Healing (Infinite Pain)" from Martyr's latest album.

Gorod

When I blogged about Gojira, I mistakenly posted a Gorod video at the end. For this post, I'll attach the Gojira cover that was meant for the Gojira post.

Gorod are another French death metal band. Their first full-length Neurotripsicks instantly brought them on the map with their mix of groove, melody and brutality.

What's great about Gojira is that they're not afraid to be melodic. There's an ever-growing fear of melody in death metal due to the limiting nature of melody. Gorod take melody and assimilate it into the aggression and groove that metalheads love about death metal. Also, for the first two albums, Gorod featured a female drummer. There you go, dudes. Chicks can be just as brutal.



That's the first track and first song of their album Neurotripsicks. They've changed considerably since then [2005], but the Gorod feel is always there. I covered "State of Secret" from the sophomore album a few weeks ago, and it's included in the Gojira post. In lieu of this inter-French death metal alliance, here's my cover of Gojira's "Remembrance".

more Necrophagist

I've decided to put up another cover of a Necrophagist song. Necrophagist was among the very first death metal bands I listened to, and this is the song that really did it for me. It was a mixture of the monster growls, blazing riffs and awkward song structure that got to me. Nowadays, this song is considered a classic from one of the genre-defining bands in technical death metal. Here's "Fermented Offal Discharge"!

Gojira

Time to introduce the French side of death metal with Gojira! Gojira is a 4 piece from Bayonne that is lyrically themed around environmental issues.

Gojira have a very tight sound with odd, start/stop rhythms. It is metal that grooves, and cares about the way humanity has treated our natural habitat. Gojira's third album From Mars to Sirius led to worldwide recognition and praise--and for good reason. Highly rhythmic and somehow highly melodic, this album takes you on a journey beyond Mars. Or Sirius. I'll let the music speak for itself.



This next cover is from Gojira's 2nd album The Link. At this point, it may be considered somewhat old, but it definitely holds a flame to any newer Gojira. Here's "Remembrance".

more Between the Buried and Me

Since BTBAM's discography is diverse, I decided to cover two Between the Buried and Me songs. This next cover is from their second album:

Here's a taste of the heavier side of Between the Buried and Me.



Enjoy!