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Envy
Insomniac Doze
Temporary Residence
www.sonzairecords.com/envy.html
www.temporaryresidence.com
Insomniac Doze is an album of intensity and intricacy,
a disc full of sprawling songs that wal
k a tightrope of punk, hardcore and orchestral delicacy.
It's an album of dissonance and beautiful
breakdowns, with bloody screaming and great grooves.
Envy
has been around more than a decade. They are a 5-piece
Japanese screamo/hardcore
band - from the same area as bands like Guitar Wolf,
Polysics and Eastern Youth. They've
worked with Mogwai - in fact they're on a European
record label owned by Mogwai - are influenced
by bands like Botch and Dillenger Four and put out
some operatic mishmashed hardcore and have
been growing in popularity around the world in recent
years.
The last Envy album A Dead Sinking Story was hailed
as a screamo masterpiece in many
circles and Insomniac Doze will no doubt increase
their fan base. It builds off their screamo/punk
roots and adds in pretty instruments - like pianos
and French horns. Envy lays out pretty soundscapes
and adds some violence to them. They build gargantuan
towers of guitars and feedback, with
wonderful lighting, great wallpaper and awesome furniture,
then they knock them down with
huge wrecking balls of animosity.
The
songs on Insomniac Doze are a bit repetitive, and
all fit the same basic mold, creating
a mood that flows together. A slightly gloomy but
intense mood that the listener wears like a warm
blanket, that's just a bit itchy, but pleasant nonetheless.
There are only 6 tracks, but the CD runs
almost an hour long and you will have plenty of time
to enjoy the snow blown harshness and the
great hooks that Envy throws at you.
Reviewed
by : Mike
Hammer
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