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