“Headbanging in front of a billion people was a very gratifying experience!” Gojira express their gratitude for being given “the opportunity to represent the Metal community” at the Olympics

Gojira have expressed their thanks for being given the opportunity to become the first metal band ever to perform at the Olympics Games.

On July 26, at the opening ceremony for the Paris games, the French quartet delighted metal fans worldwide by performing a fiery version of French revolutionary anthem Ah! Ça Ira alongside opera singer Marina Viotti on the walls of The Conciergerie, a former royal palace and prison which is now a national monument and museum.

“It was a very bloody era of French history, so it was very metal,” Gojira frontman Joe Duplantier told the New York Times ahead of the historic performance, and the band have now issued a statement expressing their gratitude for the chance to “represent the Metal community” at the global event.