At this year’s Bloodstock Open Air festival in the U.K., Gojira drummer Mario Duplantier sat down with Bloodstock TV’s Oran O’Beirne to give fans an update on the band’s next record—the follow-up to their 2021 release Fortitude.

Mario revealed that recording is already underway: “We already did record some drums and guitars and basses,” he said. “It took us a long time. We needed that time, I think, just to make sure we are all on the same page, make sure what Gojira is bringing next is strong enough.”

He added that the band doesn’t feel the same kind of pressure younger acts face. “We are not a young band anymore. We’re not like Sleep Token or Lorna Shore where the next album is so important. We’ve been a band for 30 years, so Gojira is already an established band. It doesn’t mean that we can be lazy — it doesn’t mean that — but it’s very crucial to take the time to bring something fresh and new and powerful.”

As for when fans can expect to hear new music, Mario said the plan is to release it in 2026: “For the new songs, we took so much time just to make sure everything is fine and powerful enough and — I don’t know — smart enough as well. But it’s on the way, it’s on the way. 2026, for sure.”

This isn’t the first time the Duplantier brothers have teased the new record. Last year, frontman Joe Duplantier told Loudwire Nights that the band was “in the middle” of working on new material. “We’re trying to deliver something that is meaningful and impactful,” Joe said. “We’re very ambitious in terms of writing songs and the quality of it. And we wanna take a clear step forward and upward with this album. So we’re putting all our love and energy on it.”

Gojira’s next release will follow a milestone year. In February, the band won their first Grammy, taking home “Best Metal Performance” at the 67th annual Grammy Awards for “Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça Ira!).” The track, based on the French Revolution-era anthem, was the same piece they performed during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris—making history as the first metal band to ever play the Olympics. Their dramatic set included opera singer Marina Viotti and figures representing the executed Queen Marie Antoinette, staged outside the historic Conciergerie prison where she was once held.

Before that big win, Gojira had already earned three Grammy nominations, including two in 2017 for Magma and one in 2022. Widely considered one of France’s most important musical exports, Gojira has been praised internationally for pushing metal into new territory—Metal Hammer even called them “metal’s most important band” back in 2016.

With a Grammy under their belt and a groundbreaking Olympic performance behind them, all eyes are now on what the Duplantier brothers and company will deliver in 2026.

SOURCE: BlabberMouth

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Ty Bailey