“Historic for Gojira and metal”: Why the Olympics played an unlikely host for some of the biggest guitar moments of the year

2024 Year in Review: As if witnessing Gojira’s extreme-metal take on French revolution anthem Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça Ira) at the Olympics with opera singer Marina Viotti wasn’t extraordinary enough, eagle-eyed fans were quick to spot something peculiar in singer/guitarist Joe Duplantier’s hands.

Instead of his signature T-style San Dimas Charvel, it was a custom chrome-bodied, reverse-headstock ESP XJ-1 fitted with a single bridge pickup, presumably his DiMarzio Fortitude humbucker, as well as an Evertune bridge.

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Amit has been writing for titles like Total Guitar, MusicRadar and Guitar World for over a decade and counts Richie Kotzen, Guthrie Govan and Jeff Beck among his primary influences as a guitar player. He’s worked for magazines like Kerrang!, Metal Hammer, Classic Rock, Prog, Record Collector, Planet Rock, Rhythm and Bass Player, as well as newspapers like Metro and The Independent, interviewing everyone from Ozzy Osbourne and Lemmy to Slash and Jimmy Page, and once even traded solos with a member of Slayer on a track released internationally. As a session guitarist, he’s played alongside members of Judas Priest and Uriah Heep in London ensemble Metalworks, as well as handled lead guitars for legends like Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols, The Faces) and Stu Hamm (Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, G3).