Customer Reviews

All the Footprints You've Ever Left & The Fear

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It's almost like mixing Botch _We Are The Romans_ (one of the great hardcore albums) and post-rock (although this album leans more toward the hardcore end of the spectrum). I would almost compare it to Isis _Oceanic_ (awesome hardcore with distinct post-rock dynamics), but that album flows over you, completely enveloping the listener; this album pummels you into submission with its intense musicianship and singing, while giving you the occassional respite with gorgeous post-rock-like buildups. This album is impossibly intense and emotional - it's inherently obvious that Envy's lives revolve around making this amazing music.

The music can vary from minimalist post-rock-like guitar parts, to intense emotional rock, to full-on, LOUD Japanese hardcore - and often within the course of one track. "Left Hand" begins with a strange Botch-like crazy guitar part, and then morphs into one of the most absolutely intense (there's that word again - please notice the pattern) music I've come across. It's a full-on aural assault of guitar riffage, fast-paced drumming, and emotional screaming. I can't even describe it, but my heart begins hurting (in a "this is one of the most beautiful moments of my life" sort of way - like you just watched your child being born or something).

I think that if you gave Explosions In The Sky a less subtle (i.e. crazy hardcore) drummer and some badass Japanese man who screams as if his heart was being ripped from his chest, they might sound like Envy.

this is one of the albums that when you finish listening to,you have that feeling of completion that brings closure to all your thoughts.it leaves you with such a clarity that you simply do not want to listen to anything else at the time,cause very few albums match its strength and passion..destroy me with a kiss..

Okay, this band and this record can be and have been described in a number of different ways,some of which might make one a little reluctant to give envy a shot, and some being more accurate than others.Now I don't really have any new descriptive terms I can throw at you other than those generally used to descibe them, but I will say, emo they ain't.
Call them any number of things you will,this is a well rounded, pretty complete, and cohesive(however chaotic) record. There's plenty here, but whether it's screamo, post, or noisy hardcore it's all well done and fits together smoothly, instead of sounding like the complete mess it should probably be. The variety is what I like about this album. The spastic technicality and crushing hc are complemented by melody and spacey, drawn out, Isis-type parts. Some of the songs are on the longer side, but the multi-faceted nature of this record make it far from boring. All around an intense, beautiful work, complex and rife with emotion. Recommended to fans of any of the overlapping genres used to describe them who also won't mind hearing someone shriek in Japanese for almost an hour.

Envy are one of those bands that although sung in a different language(they're Japanese if you didn't know) you can feel the emotion bursting from every screamed and spoken word. For a second there is no language barrier, you know exactly what they are trying to convey. Not many other bands i've heard have put so much emotion into a disc as Envy does, they're like an extremely volatile bomb, one touch and they violently explode. Both epic and devastating this is one album you don't want to miss(along with all of their others). ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL for hardcore/screamo/post-rock/metal/etc fans.

This is my Favorite Envy album. I'm not a huge fan of heavy screamo hardcore, but this album is too good to ignore. The word "epic" gets thrown around a lot and this album is worthy of that description. Envy comes out of the Japanese Indies Punk scene and leaves a lasting impression. They have branched out from all the other Japanese Hardcore bands to create a sound of their own. With a tour in Europe and now the States Envy will be makings friends all over.