Fortitude was met with acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, the album has received a score of 80 out of 100 based on nine reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Forbes termed
Fortitude as a demonstration of a "strong sense of urgency felt on the number of social–political issues that Gojira highlight", and praised "these haunting yet poignant lyrical themes."
Kerrang!s Paul Travers wrote that "Gojira never seemed like a band built for the mainstream", but that
Fortitude "sounds like the album that could propel them the rest of the way to the top." He noted that the album extends the band's palette and "cements their place as one of metal's most skilled and uncompromising bands." Olivier Ducruix of
Montreuil's magazine praised "the incredible richness of this record" and wrote that "The riff machine is running at full speed here." In Tom Morgan's review for
Noizze, he gave the album 8 out of 10, as well as remembered previous comparisons of
Magmas stylistic departure to Gojira's previous albums as the same as
Metallica's 1991
self-titled album and Mastodon's 2011
The Hunter. Different than their respective follow-ups
Load and ''
Once More 'Round the Sun, Fortitude'' "never makes you wish that you were listening to the band's earlier work, and instead simply feels like the natural evolution of this insanely talented band." Saby Reyes-Kulkarni of
PopMatters gave the album 7 out of 10. He praised
Fortitudes production and mixing qualities "where the drums practically sing throughout the entire duration of the album, even when the rest of the band is blaring at full volume", and that it "certainly
sounds magnificent", but wondered whether a "band this unorthodox is best served by flirting with [a] stereotypical approach". Writing for
Prog magazine, Jerry Ewing described
Fortitude as "easily the best album they've made to date." He also noted that the band embraced a far proggier approach than previous albums and was also aiming for the mainstream like
Mastodon's 2009
Crack the Skye. Giving the album 8 out of 10, Tim Hoffman of
RIFF magazine stated that the band "continues to incorporate its artistry and activism in ways that convey complex thoughts on environmentalism with mind-blowing riffs, shredding and increasingly incredible melodies." Kory Grow of
Rolling Stone thought that Gojira "mix heavy music with heavy concepts, and never once do they sound like a drag", and summed up the review by saying, "It's all the rage of death metal mixed with the conscience of
punk rock and the musicality of progressive rock, and it's never boring". ==Accolades==