Editing Gojira (band) (section)

===Early years and ''Terra Incognita'' (1996–2002)===
{{Listen|type=music|filename=Gojira (Godzilla - pre-Gojira) - Bleeding.ogg|title="Bleeding"|description=A sample of "Bleeding" from the 1997 demo album, ''[[Gojira discography#Demo albums|Possessed]]''}}
In 1996, the band settled on the name Godzilla.<ref name="Nicoleau2019">{{cite news |last1=Nicoleau |first1=Jean–Philippe |last2=Guerin |first2=Benoit |date=21 June 2019 |title=Les Français de Gojira au firmament du metal |trans-title=The French of Gojira in the firmament of metal |url=https://www.ouest-france.fr/festivals/les-francais-de-gojira-au-firmament-du-metal-6408672 |url-status=live |language=fr |work=[[Ouest-France]] |place=[[Clisson]] |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210123165657/https://www.ouest-france.fr/festivals/les-francais-de-gojira-au-firmament-du-metal-6408672 |archive-date=23 January 2021 |access-date=13 November 2021}}</ref> The idea sprang from the original 1954 ''[[kaiju]]'' film ''[[Godzilla (1954 film)|Godzilla]]'' and "the myth of the big furious atomic lizard&nbsp;... It was, in our heads, a symbol of devastating power".<ref name="VS-Webzine2001">{{cite news|author=Greg|date=2001|title=VS Greg interview Gojira|url=http://www.vs-webzine.com/Interview_gojira.htm|url-status=live|website=VS-Webzine|language=fr|archive-url=https://archive.today/20201220110132/http://www.vs-webzine.com/Interview_gojira.htm|archive-date=20 December 2020|access-date=20 December 2020}}</ref> The band first performed in Bayonne [[Bar (establishment)|bar]]s<ref name="Marraud2019-06-20"/> (four months after its formation), selling cassettes at shows and to their friends.<ref name="Grow2012-09-02"/> Playing straight-ahead [[death metal]] with elements of [[thrash metal]],<ref>{{cite news|author=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.-->|title=Gojira, 20 ans de metal...|trans-title=Gojira, 20 years of metal...|url=https://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2017/02/11/2515589-gojira-20-ans-metal-enfin-nomination-grammy-awards.html|url-status=live|work=[[La Dépêche du Midi]]|date=11 February 2017|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210421174311/https://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2017/02/11/2515589-gojira-20-ans-metal-enfin-nomination-grammy-awards.html|archive-date=21 April 2021|access-date=18 August 2021|trans-quote=We began playing pretty intense thrash and death metal ...}}</ref> Godzilla self-released a pair of demo albums (''[[Victim (album)|Victim]]'' in 1996 and ''[[Possessed (Gojira album)|Possessed]]'' in 1997),<ref name="Humanite2017-09-04">{{cite news|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=Grande scène. Gojira, les rois du metal aimantent encore|trans-title=Large scene. Gojira, the kings of metal still magnetize|url=https://www.humanite.fr/grande-scene-gojira-les-rois-du-metal-aimantent-encore-641392|url-status=live|language=fr|work=[[L'Humanité]]|location=Paris|date=4 September 2017|archive-url=https://archive.today/20201219143421/https://www.humanite.fr/grande-scene-gojira-les-rois-du-metal-aimantent-encore-641392|archive-date=19 December 2020|access-date=30 October 2021}}</ref> and toured [[South West France (wine region)|southwest France]].<ref name="WFenec-Bio">{{cite web|url=https://www.w-fenec.org/metal/gojira.html|title=Biographie: Godzilla|trans-title=Biography: Godzilla|last=Bally|first=Oli|date=November 2012|website=W-Fenec|language=fr|archive-url=https://archive.today/20201220105601/https://www.w-fenec.org/metal/gojira.html|archive-date=20 December 2020|access-date=19 December 2020|url-status=live|quote=Note: Oli Bally is a teacher who created W-Fenec in 1998}}</ref>

[[File:Gojira logo.svg|thumb|left|upright=0.75|Gojira's logo first appeared in 2001 on the album ''[[Terra Incognita (Gojira album)|Terra Incognita]]''|alt=The band's logo, written in bold in black and white]] 
Cornillon left the band in 1998 and was replaced by [[Jean-Michel Labadie]],<ref name="HF2020-12-26">{{cite magazine|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=Gojira: Tout Savoir sur le Groupe|trans-title=Gojira: Know Everything About the Group {{!}} 1996−present|url=https://hardforce.com/artist/9963/gojira|url-status=live|language=fr|magazine=Hard Force Magazine|location=Paris|date=n.d.|archive-url=https://archive.today/20201226115257/https://hardforce.com/artist/9963/gojira|archive-date=26 December 2020|access-date=1 March 2021|oclc=32640105}}</ref> a "young bass player very active on the [[French Basque Country|Basque]] scene", according to author Marie-Hélène Soenen.<ref name="Soenen2016-06-24"/> Godzilla won the ''tremplin Ultrasons'' (Ultrasound Springboard, a regional festival for emerging artists) in early 1999.<ref name="US2003-02-28">{{cite news|author=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.-->|title=Il n'en restera qu'un...|trans-title=Only one will remain...|url=https://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2003/02/28/144074-il-n-en-restera-qu-un.html|url-status=live|language=fr|work=[[La Dépêche du Midi|La Dépêche]]|date=28 February 2003|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210407200818/https://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2003/02/28/144074-il-n-en-restera-qu-un.html|archive-date=7 April 2021|access-date=7 April 2021}}</ref> The band toured regularly, serving as the opening act for [[Cannibal Corpse]], [[Edge of Sanity]], and [[Impaled Nazarene]].<ref name="Humanite2017-09-04"/> In September 1999, the band supported [[Immortal (band)|Immortal]] during a ten-date tour in France that ended in [[Lille]].{{sfn|Badin|2008|p=28}} While touring with Immortal, Godzilla received national exposure, developing a reputation on the French metal scene for their "incendiary riffs".<ref name="Soenen2016-06-24"/> The band recorded ''[[Saturate (Gojira album)|Saturate]]'', their third demo album, which was released in the Fall of 1999.<ref name="Balaš2017-08-15">{{cite magazine|last=Balaš|first=Jadranka|date=15 August 2017|title=Gojira: From an Underground Beast to the Very Top of the Metal World|url=https://www.hardwiredmagazine.com/gojira-from-the-beast-from-the-underground-to-the-very-top-of-the-metal-world/?lang=en|url-status=live|language=en|magazine=Hardwired Magazine|location=[[Serbia]]|archive-url=https://archive.today/20201219163025/https://www.hardwiredmagazine.com/gojira-from-the-beast-from-the-underground-to-the-very-top-of-the-metal-world/?lang=en|archive-date=19 December 2020|access-date=19 December 2020}}</ref><ref name="WFenec-Bio"/>

The band released ''[[Wisdom Comes]]'', their fourth demo album, in 2000.<ref name="Balaš2017-08-15"/><ref name="Proximus2019">{{cite news|author=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.-->|title=Gojira: l'enfant sauvage né dans le magma|trans-title=Gojira: the wild child born in the magma|url=https://www.proximus.be/pickx/fr/1941594/gojira-lenfant-sauvage-ne-dans-le-magma|url-status=live|work=[[Proximus]]|location=[[Brussels]]|date=17 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191127083010/https://www.proximus.be/pickx/fr/1941594/gojira-lenfant-sauvage-ne-dans-le-magma|archive-date=27 November 2019|access-date=18 August 2021}}</ref> Godzilla then began writing what they intended as their first full-length album, a project planned since 1996. According to Joe Duplantier, [[Mike Oldfield]] inspired his songwriting.<ref name="Daly2016-11-11">{{cite news|last=Daly|first=Joe|date=11 November 2016|title=Every Gojira album in their own words|url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/every-gojira-album-in-their-own-words|work=[[Metal Hammer]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200508200312/https://www.loudersound.com/features/every-gojira-album-in-their-own-words|archive-date=8 May 2020|access-date=26 December 2020}}</ref>

In 2001, Godzilla was legally compelled to change its name.{{sfn|Sayce|2013|p=22}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://musee.sacem.fr/index.php/Detail/entities/7911 |title=Gojira (groupe) 1996 |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=n.d. |website=[[Société des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique]] |access-date=18 August 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210622153202/https://musee.sacem.fr/index.php/Detail/entities/7911 |location=Paris |language=fr |type=[[Fonds]] |archive-date=22 June 2021}}</ref> They became "Gojira" {{Nihongo|2=ゴジラ|3=}}, the ''[[rōmaji]]'' spelling for the original Japanese name for Godzilla.<ref name="Grow2012-09-02"/> Inspired by the production quality of an album by Watcha, a [[Paris]]ian metal band, Gojira moved to the same [[Brussels]] studio to record their debut album, ''[[Terra Incognita (Gojira album)|Terra Incognita]]''. Before entering the recording studio, they asked friends and family for donations. Although Joe Duplantier said that Gojira took a long time to write the album, it was recorded in ten days.<ref name="Arnold2017-07-07"/>

[[File:Gojira live on October 4, 2002.jpg|thumb|alt=Gojira onstage, seen from the audience|Gojira performing in [[Niort]], France, during the October 2002 Terra Incognita Tour]]
After finishing recording and [[Audio mixing (recorded music)|mixing]] by Stephan Kraemer at Impuls Studios, Gojira had no label, record company, or management.<ref name="WFenec2002-04">{{cite news|last=Bally|first=Oli|date=April 2002|title=Gojira - Interview à Calais (avril 2002)|trans-title=Interview in Calais (April 2002)|url=https://www.w-fenec.org/metal/gojira,897,interview-a-calais-avril-2002.html|url-status=live|website=W-Fenec|language=fr|access-date=30 October 2021|archive-url=https://archive.today/20201219230657/https://www.w-fenec.org/metal/gojira,897,interview-a-calais-avril-2002.html|archive-date=19 December 2020}}</ref> Joe Duplantier said that after the tour with Immortal, Gojira became "a real war machine". However, Soenen wrote that record labels called them "too ambitious" for their style of music. Labels advised them to abandon death metal and sing in French; "The door was clearly closed", said Joe Duplantier.<ref name="Soenen2016-06-24"/> The band realized that their way out was to consider an independent infrastructure; they established Gabriel Editions (their own label) as a [[Société à responsabilité limitée|limited-liability company]].{{sfn|Portnoi|2003|p=50}} Andreu said that they could now "manage the band's activities, financing everything ourselves".<ref name="Soenen2016-06-24"/>

Gojira released their debut studio album, ''Terra Incognita'', on Gabriel Editions in March 2001.<ref name="WFenec2002-04"/> The album "made significant waves", according to John D. Buchanan of [[AllMusic]].<ref name="AllMusic-bio"/> Do-it-yourselfers,<ref name="Soenen2016-06-24"/> the band had a shipment of 1,500 albums delivered to the Duplantiers' parents' kitchen and persuaded a small store in Bayonne to sell them.<ref name="Arnold2017-07-07"/> Gojira then signed a contract with Sphere Management,<ref name="WFenec2002-04"/> and Richard Gamba became their manager. The band went on a nationwide tour to promote ''Terra Incognita'', sharing the stage with French death&ndash;thrash metal [[Crossover thrash|crossover]] acts such as [[Scarve]],<ref name="VS-Webzine2001"/> Hertz and Silence,<ref>{{cite news|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=Gojira, Hertz and Silence, Kevorkia: Lame de metal|trans-title=Gojira, Hertz and Silence, Kevorkia: Metal blade|url=https://www.letelegramme.fr/ar/viewarticle1024.php?aaaammjj=20011024&article=3428292&type=ar|url-status=live|language=fr|work=[[Le Télégramme]]|date=24 October 2001|archive-url=https://archive.today/20201226121415/https://www.letelegramme.fr/ar/viewarticle1024.php?aaaammjj=20011024&article=3428292&type=ar|archive-date=26 December 2020|access-date=26 December 2020}}</ref> Nihil, and No Flag.<ref name="WFenec2002-04"/> Gojira later signed with the independent Boycott Records&ndash;Next Music for national distribution.<ref name="VS-Webzine2001"/>{{sfn|Portnoi|2003|p=50}}

The band acquired what became Le Studio des Milans ([[Red kite|Red Kite]]s' Studio), a recording studio and rehearsal space in the [[Landes forest]], in November 2002.{{sfn|Kelham|2009|p=46}}{{sfn|Portnoi|2003|p=50}} The studio was originally a derelict barn, which Gojira rebuilt<ref name="Wood2008-12-01">{{cite news|last=Wood|first=Mikael|date=1 December 2008|title=Gojira: The Heaviest Matter of the Universe|url=https://www.revolvermag.com/music/gojira-heaviest-matter-universe|url-status=live|work=[[Revolver (magazine)|Revolver]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201231181127/https://www.revolvermag.com/music/gojira-heaviest-matter-universe|archive-date=31 December 2020|access-date=31 December 2020}}</ref> over a two-year period between tours and recording.{{sfn|Kelham|2009|p=47}} On their investment, Joe Duplantier said that "The budget is important for this [second] record, but for the next one, it will be minimal", and further noted that they could "henceforth produce" their music "from A to Z".{{sfn|Portnoi|2003|p=50}}