Terra Incognita (Gojira album)
Terra Incognita is the debut studio album by French heavy metal band Gojira. It was recorded and mixed by Stephan Kraemer.[2][3] According to a text on the album inlay, the title (Latin for "unknown land") refers to the area inside of each man, where, according to Hindu legend, Brahma hid the divinity that he had taken from humanity for the punishment of its abuse.
| Terra Incognita | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 19 March 2001 | |||
| Recorded | 2000 at Impuls Studios, Belgium; mastered at La Source Mastering, Paris | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 66:49 | |||
| Label | Gabriel Editions (original release) Boycott Records (2003 re-release) Mon Slip (2005 re-release) Listenable Records (2009 re-release, 2016 remaster) | |||
| Producer | Gojira | |||
| Gojira chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [1] |
In 2009, Terra Incognita was re-released in a limited edition digipack including three bonus tracks that were recorded live in Antwerp, Belgium, in 2006.[4] The 2009 issues of the album were for a limited time only and was eventually reissued once again 7 years later on 10 October 2016. Prior to these two reissues and the following years after the 2009 reissue, copies of the album were getting hard to find and were often selling at higher prices on auction sites and sought after by fans following long periods of time being out of print.
Writing and composition
Terra Incognita was written at the time vocalist Joe Duplantier had deliberately moved away from society to live two years in a cabin that he had built. He lived in this cabin in a forest with his girlfriend without electricity and without income.[5][6] The reference of this experience is in the music video of "Love".
The song "04" was made by Joe and Mario as a birthday present for their mother on her 50th birthday and was never intended to be released at all. The phone call at the beginning of the song is the brothers' uncle who left a voice-mail greeting his sister.
In 2001, Joe Duplantier described that "This [album] cover sums up the whole album, that is to say a reflection, then an exploration of the soul, which remains an unknown land".[2] The man posing on the album cover is guitarist Christian Andreu.
Track listing
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Clone" | 5:00 |
| 2. | "Lizard Skin" | 4:32 |
| 3. | "Satan Is a Lawyer" | 4:25 |
| 4. | "04" (instrumental) | 2:11 |
| 5. | "Blow Me Away You (niverse)" | 5:12 |
| 6. | "5988 Trillions de Tonnes" (instrumental) | 1:20 |
| 7. | "Deliverance" | 4:56 |
| 8. | "Space Time" | 5:23 |
| 9. | "On the B.O.T.A" | 2:49 |
| 10. | "Rise" | 5:12 |
| 11. | "Fire Is Everything" | 4:59 |
| 12. | "Love" | 4:22 |
| 13. | "1990 Quatrillions de Tonnes" | 4:17 |
| 14. | "In the Forest" | 12:11 |
- Hidden track
The song "In the Forest" contains a hidden instrumental song called "Terra Inc."[7] The main piece of the track ends at 5:30 and the hidden song starts at 9:00, giving the song a period of silence lasting 3:30. The song contains complex layers of ambient guitar sounds with various echo and reverb effects. This song ends promptly at 12:11 and closes the album. On the "Reissue version", the song "In the Forest" ends and starts the instrumental hidden song after only 10 seconds of silence. The band employed a similar tactic with the closing and title track of their 2008 album The Way of All Flesh.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 14. | "In the Forest" | 8:46 |
| 15. | "Clone" (live in Antwerpen, 11 February 2006) | 4:46 |
| 16. | "Love" (live in Antwerpen, 11 February 2006) | 4:15 |
| 17. | "Space Time" (live in Antwerpen, 11 February 2006) | 5:22 |
Personnel
- Joe Duplantier – vocals, rhythm guitar
- Christian Andreu – lead guitar
- Jean-Michel Labadie – bass
- Mario Duplantier – drums
References
- Freeman, Phil. "Terra Incognita review". AllMusic. Retrieved 11 March 2010.
- Greg (2001). "VS Greg interview Gojira". VS-Webzine (in French). Archived from the original on 20 December 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
- Oli (November 2012). "Biographie: Godzilla" [Biography: Godzilla]. W-Fenec (in French). Archived from the original on 20 December 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
- "http://bulletins.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=bulletin.read&authorID=4552860&messageID=6535305233"
- "Gojira's Joe Duplantier: My Life Story". Revolver. 2 September 2012. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
- "Shifting into interstellar overdrive with Gojira". The Austin Chronicle. 15 February 2007. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
- "Terra Inc, the hypnotically beautiful instrumental 'hidden track' from Terra Incognita". www.bristol247.com. 29 March 2017. Retrieved 6 November 2019.