Envy

For over 11 years, they have been creating the most intense fusion of emotive ballads with ferocious teeth gritting screaming hardcore. They have created their own sound with their speedy guitars, loud pounding bombastic drums, heavy screams in Japanese, and pummeling fretless bass lines. Think somewhere between Yaphet Kotto to Mogwai. They have recorded a plethora of singles for mainly Japanese labels and have done split records with bands from Endeavor, Six Pence, to This Machine Kills, Iscariote and in the future again with This Machine Kills and Yaphet Kotto. HG Fact Records out of Tokyo has released the last three 12"/CDs including the "All the Footprints YOu've Ever Left" that Dim Mak was able to release for the US. Envy has managed to tour throughout the world except for the US. They plan to come sometime 2003. They have been out to China, Korea, and other parts of Asia as well as Europe a few times and of course touring up and down Japan with US bands like This Machine Kills, The Exploder, and Yaphet Kotto. THeir live shows are like a fucking tornado leaving people crying in the crowd out of pure emotional intensity. No joke. They are the best live band around.
S. Aoki

Dim Mak Releases:
DM025: "All The Footprints You've Ever Had and The Fear Expecting Ahead" CD

Discography
Envy/ Iscariote 10" (Code of Ethics)
Envy/ Iscariote CDep (Level Plane/Sonzai)
All the Footprints You've Ever Left and The Fear Expecting Ahead CD (HG Fact/ Dim Mak)
All the Footprints You've Ever Left and The Fear Expecting Ahead LP (Molaire)
Last Wish 7" (HG Fact) out of print
Envy/ THis Machine Kills 7" (HG Fact/ Dim Mak)
The Eyes of Final Proof 7"/CD (HG Fact) 7" out of print
Angel's Curse Whispered in the Edge of Despair 12"/CDep (HG Fact)
From Here To Eternity LP/CD (HG Fact) LP out of print
Envy/ Endeavor 7" (HG Fact) out of print
Envy/Six Pence 7" (HG Fact) out of print

Press for "All the Footprints..."

PunkPlanet #50
Holy Shit. Some people in Japan got a hold of a Refused CD and decided to go on a rampage. At first, they'll lull you to sleep with Sonic Youth like dissonance or un-intense indie rock buildups. Then they stab you in the eye, and it's screaming,chaotic and blazingly fast. Some songs stray from that ("A Cradle of Arguments and Anxiousness"), at least when it comes to the speed and intensity. The vocals, however, are screamed in Japanese the entire time. There's a tight balance here between restraint and intensity, and these guys bounce back and forth between the two with disconcerting ease. The vocals can get old, at least for me, but the guitars are played so ferociously and the music's so intense that I can get past the larynx-destroying screams. Check out "The Spiral Manipulation" and "Farewell to Words". The more I listen to it, the more I like it. And you also get a glimpse of these assassins because there is an enhanced CD that features two videos. This is a juggernaut deceptively hidden on a piece of plastic. It will destroy you once you put it in your CD player. Use with caution, but damn, it's pretty good. (Kyle Ryan)

Shredding Paper #13
Whoa! Thundering intense hardcore from Japan, flirting with post-emo at times. Instead of simply cranking it out the folks sound like they're actually putting their heart and soul into the music. The singer contributes very effective screaming vocals that match the music perfectly. Lyrics are sung in Japanese but the booklet thoughtfully provides translations; they would seem to fall in the "emo" category (though with such song titles as "A Cradle of Arguments and Anxiousness" and "A Cage It Falls Into" this probably wouldn't come as any surprise) but the music here blows away 95% of today's practitioners of said genre. (especially when they start quietly, building up until they frigging explode). David

Epitonic.com
Envy is a massive wave of crushing hardcore from Japan. The group has been together for over a decade and released several albums including the featured All The Footprints You've Ever Left And The Fear Expecting Ahead, their third. The overwhelming album title matches the band's overwhelming sound, which consists of walls of guitar screaming over blistering drums. But Envy also knows when to reel in the aggression. They will often segue into a delicate section, giving their listeners a break and nicely offsetting and defining the power of their volume. Otherwise, Envy's intensity might be too much to take. Whether the band is screeching to a halt in a quiet section with quietly spoken vocals or slowly building into a huge passage featuring throat-destroying screams, the songs are put together wonderfully. (Justin Sinkovich)

Geekamerica.com
Grade A
It is rare that when the press of a record tells you how eclectic and amazing a record is, and it turns out to actually be true. This is definitely one of those rare occasions. This is described as the best melodic hardcore band from Japan, but I wouldn't even call it melodic hardcore, that lumps it in with too many shitty bands. Yes, it's melodic from time to time, but mostly this record is full of build-ups and teardowns. It's a cross between Botch and Time In Malta and the Ebullition style bands. It's completely intense and deserves all the attention it can get. Reviewed by: CS

The New Scheme #6
This band hails from Japan, though I think this is their first official US release. They have actually been going for eleven years, and this is their third full length. This really interested me the first I listened all the way through it, and by the end of listen two I was completely hooked. Envy play a frantic and haphazard style of hardcore. though their songs are far from sloppy, and always have a lot going on. They also have an incredible command of dynamics which is evident every step of the way. When the press sheeet mentioned Mogwai it didn't make any sense at first, though it acutally starts to after a litle while. They mix the incredible ups and downs of a band like Mogwai, with intelligent, though somewhat choppy hardcore that I can best describe as a mix between Botch and The Exploder. This also has a really well done enhanced section with videos of two of the songs here. And from the looks of the videos. their live show matches the intensity of this record really well. There is also a ton to listen to on this record. Each song is really dense, with a lot going on both in the notes and the songwriting, and in the dynamics and structure. Plus the songs are pretty lengthy on average, which brings to mind Mogwai more than most of the hardcore bands they could be compare to. The record comes in at just under fifty minutes long. Wow. A mixture of Mogwai, The Exploder, and Botch? I wouldn't have believed it either until I heard this record. This is truly breathtaking, intelligent, and original hardcore record. Hopefuly with this, Envy will finally see some much deserved recognition in the U.S. This is truly an exceptional release.

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