Album Review: Envy - Eunoia
Reviewed by Rob Barker
As a total newcomer to Envy, I didn’t know what to expect with this at all. Eunoia marks the 10th full-length album by the band, with founding members Nobukata Kawai and Manabu Nakagawa being joined by Tsuyoshi ‘yOshi’ Yoshitake, Yoshimitsu Taki and Hiroki Watanabe. The five-piece have crafted the album with a rich history of influences and skill.
Piecemeal introduces the album as an emotive way in, giving the listener a rough idea of what to expect going forward, making way for Imagination and Creation, which is not dissimilar to the aggressive major chords theme of Deafheaven’s Sunbather. Frantic yet theatrical. Emphatic in it’s point that heaviness doesn’t necessarily need the nastier-sounding scales to exist.
The Night and The Void starts with a well-considered sample and cool, sharp drumbeat introducing a really beautiful guitar melody. The spoken-word style vocals really shine through here, leading into the desperate climactic, dare I say inspirational shouts. Beyond the Raindrops is next; a mostly instrumental post-rock masterpiece, reminiscent of Mogwai. It takes true musicianship to hold back when necessary, and the sparse vocals are spot on for this track, their absence not taking away from anything. Those vocals come back with a vengeance with Whiteout, the first single release off the album, shifting in pitch and showing off the band’s more hardcore influences.
Lingering Light is a cool little interlude track that reminded me a bit of Ire Works era Dillinger Escape Plan, with cleaver use of guitar blasts and emphatic silent pauses. Leads fabulously into Lingering Echoes. This track goes. It hits hard with massive layers of enveloping shoegaze-esque wall-of-sound, vocals that sit absolutely spot-on where they are in the mix, and musicianship that does exactly what it sets out to do – skilful and complex without being overtly wanky or obnoxious. Reminiscent of the previous track, this song shows off clever, sparing use of blasts of silence that add to the magnitude. Eunoia finishes off with January’s Dusk, showing off smart album-writing skills with a longer track that starts a bit more chilled out than the previous song, initially offering the listener the slightest of breaks in intensity before the ultimate crescendo. Really great way to finish off the album.
Even though I’m late to the party with my introduction to Envy (32 years late, to be precise), Eunoia has inspired me to check more of the bands extensive catalogue out. Eunoia is great, definitely one I’ll be playing again and telling people about. Really great stuff; inventive and non-typical.
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