Labels: Molaire Industries
Review by: Andy Malcolm
Crikey, I must own almost everything this Japanese power-emo band have ever done practically, and I am not sure how, nor why actually. All their records are undeniably great stuff, but I haven’t really given them as much listening as they deserve to be honest. This here 10″, on fantastic grey vinyl (grade A packaging too!) via a French label, is perfect evidence of their awesome style. Envy tend to beat you about the face with their brutal screamo assault, yet at the same time weave in some wonderfully melodic old school emo guitar lines to appease the pure violence. It’s difficult to make a sound comparison, but I’d guess if you were into Saetia, You and I, or the French screamo (Alkatraz etc”¦) you’d love these guys, though they don’t really sound that similar. Envy are fast and driving, with the harsh vocals being ripped from their singers throat over the tear-away music. On one track they even find the time to fall away into heart-breaking twinkle mode. Very nice. And that’s what you can expect throughout this record. Fantastic power that relents only for the momentary quiet part, including a classy downbeat jazz finale to “Limitation”. Damn, why haven’t I been listening to this enough?
Definitely the starting point to check out these guys if you haven’t already.