[2] Gojira subsequently announced a headline tour of their own, which began in January 2013 with support from The Devin Townsend Project and The Atlas Moth.

[3] The composition and pre-production of L'Enfant Sauvage were materialized in the southwest of France (Le Studio des Milans).

[5][4] L'Enfant sauvage is partly inspired by François Truffaut's film of the same name,[6] which tells the true story of Victor of Aveyron, a child who was found alone in the woods with behaviors closer to a wild animal than a civilized human.

And also there is this idea that an enfant sauvage, a child that grew up in nature, is not confronted with others, with emotions, with guilt and identity, so it would be a state where you are closer to the essence of things."

Frontman, guitarist, and songwriter Joe Duplantier spoke about the meaning of the album by saying, "When you become a musician, you don't have a boss telling you what to do so you have to be very responsible."

"[7] Duplantier expanded on this idea in an interview with The Quietus, explaining that "Since the beginning, since the very first demo even, I've been obsessed with the human condition, the soul, why we are here and is there an answer to that question - the mysteries of life in general.

"[8] On 30 April 2012, the band performed a new song for the forthcoming album, the title track "L'Enfant sauvage", at Rockstore in Montpellier.

[9] Music and lyric videos have been released for five songs off the album: "Explosia",[10] "L'Enfant Sauvage",[11] "The Axe",[12] "Liquid Fire",[13] and "Born in Winter".

In his review of the album for The Guardian, Dom Lawson gave the album a perfect rating, writing that "Their fifth studio album sustains their trademark blend of unfathomable heaviness, structural invention and ecological-cum-existential poetry while subtly enhancing its dramatic and emotional impact", concluding that "overall this is a ferociously original piece of work that reaches its electrifying zenith on The Gift of Guilt: six minutes of sledgehammer sorrow built from riffs that sound like warning shots fired from the planet's doomed and turbulent core.