Envy - Insomniac Doze

by Andy Vincent

published: 19 / 6 / 2006

Label: Select Label
Format: CD

Fantastic hardcore post rock on latest album from long running Japanese band Envy, released on Mogwai's Rock Action Records

Review

I need to state this from the outset. This album is fantastic. Envy are a long running Japanese hardcore/post rock/noise band that are hailed by many as highly influential and recognised by peers from all over the music world. The fact that 'Insomniac Doze' has been released through Rock Action Records, owned by the again highly influential Mogwai, is a testament to their good standing and talent. The album itself ebbs and flows through close enough to an hour's worth of material spread through seven tracks. At first listen each track could be seen as a relatively standard Loud/Quiet. It's only after you have listened through the entire record that you realise it's a long and winding path that creates some incredible soundscapes, lovely melodic sections and some damn exciting blistering noise all in one stream. From the outset the use of the band's instruments is key, as much so as the notation, feedback, pitches and harmonics are vital to the creation of what the group intended. The ability to create an incredibly heavy section without the reliance on effects inspire me as much musically as any band I've heard in recent years. I can't fully explain the album track by track as the tracks blend so well together and, without each other, they lose their own individual impact. In a metaphorical sense, imagine the album as a stream running down a mountain. To take each track individually is to put up a dam. The stream will still exist, but it will be being thwarted. It needs to maintain its flow to create that nice little lake at the bottom of the mountain, by those trees...over there. I love this album, I could listen to it for hours on end without being bored, whilst finding new sections I enjoy all the time. If you listen to bands with a passion and a clear ability to evoke this passion in others, you need this album. You won't regret it.