 Gojira was formed in 1996 by Joe and Mario Duplantier , Christian Andreu , and Alexandre Cornillon in their hometown of <unk> . Gojira 's music combines elements of death metal , groove metal , thrash metal and progressive metal . The band started touring and recording under the name Godzilla and released their demos Victim , Possessed , Saturate and Wisdom Comes in 1996 , 1997 , 1999 and 2000 , respectively . After touring , supporting Cannibal Corpse , Edge of Sanity , Impaled Nazarene and supporting Immortal in September 1999 , legal problems forced Godzilla to change their name . They changed their name to Gojira , the <unk> spelling of the fictional monster Godzilla . Their debut album Terra Incognita was released under the new name in 2001 . 
