Gojira (2) – Fortitude

This pressing sounds like the audio was compressed and then the cuting head was powerd hydraulically through shrinky garden hose.
-cleans dog hair off stylus-
oh nevermind
I listened to this album and now my face is permanently stank. doctors are at a loss

Looks like Gojira allocated an undisclosed amount of this pressing during their Mega Monsters tour with Mastodon and Lorna Shore. The cover is signed by the band but no shrinkwrap nor hype sticker is provided. The record itself plays really good. No noise or pops in playback, but they played even better live.

I paid 80 USD for this and its totally worth it, especially for seeing the cost of other signed copies going for online.

Decent pressing. Album cover art and insert are well-printed. Record itself has a lot of surface noise, even after cleaning. Very bland, quiet sounding as well. Thankfully though, no warps or factory scratches.

This is a much better pressing than the EU version. Of course my impressions are based on one copy each, so your results may vary. But where my EU pressing was pretty noisy, this one is dead quiet. It's still not a great sounding record, but much more enjoyable.

Side note: When I opened it I was expecting the worst, there was so much debris from those cheap ass paper inner sleeves. I will never understand why these companies cheap out on these when they could put the additional cost (10 cents? 20?) entirely on the customer and not sell a single copy less...

Sounds pretty good not the best sounding LP but job well done

Once I decided that I'd buy the new Gojira LP, I intended to buy the first copy I came across. Well, all 5 or so of the local shops I went to only had the black ice copy, which I noticed were pressed at GZ (at least the first run of them were, there's now a new entry for black ice pressed in Canada). GZ is the last plant I'd trust to do a quality job on a single disc 50+ minute long album. I nearly pulled the trigger on that one, but ultimately decided I'd wait and grab a standard black copy, as it was the only way to avoid the Czech GZ pressed copies. Also thanks to everyone who left reviews on that submission.

Today I received the standard black copy and here are some thoughts:
*I wasn't expecting any transformative audiophile experience with this record. It's a pretty long album on a cheap single disc lp in the year 2021, it's not going to sound that great. I think some buyers need to bring back expectations a bit with pressings like these.
*With that said, this would have been a great candidate for a 45 rpm 2xLP treatment. I'm generally not crazy about that format, but the length of this album was just begging for that. It likely would've raised the price to around $30, so I guess I'm happy with only paying $15 and sacrificing a little in sound quality.
*I cleaned my copy beforehand, still have a bit of surface noise, but really could not care less. It's loud music and the surface noise is totally drowned out for 98% of the album's run time.
*This album really needs the volume cranked. I'm assuming this is a result of the slightly above-average side lengths. A lot of people complain about that, but to me, it's not really a bad thing, just something to note. At my stereo's average LP volume level it just wasn't engaging. After turning the volume way up, you start to get some of the definition, punch, and engagement that was missing, without sacrificing any clarity.

*This pressing actually sounds MUCH BETTER than I expected.
As others have stated, some definition and clarity is lost near the end of each side, but it still is not bad at all. To me, that loss of definition really shows itself in the low end, as the bass guitar could really use tightened up. Everything else sounds good enough, but the low end sounds a bit overblown and washes over the rest of the mix just a bit.
I've only listened to this album in the car up until this point and must say that the sound experience from the LP is a bit more enjoyable. I would assume that's more of a product of the speaker quality in the car vs. my at-home setup, but hey, I'm pleased with it.

A pressing without noise and with decent definition in the sound for this fine album from Gojira. The lp is dished, but plays ok in my system. Overall sonically I would not rate it, but it is acceptable.

Musically, it seems this record emphasises the rhythm section, with good effect. On a couple of songs the pitch wavers hectically, but this seems to be intentional (quite what the intention is I'm not sure). This is pop prog metal for Gojira, but it is quite inventive and varied. I'm not sure what the staying power will be, but for now I'm enjoying this album.