Envy

Envy: RecitationRecitation (2010)
Temporary Residence

Reviewer Rating: 4

User Rating:

Contributed by: JeloneJelone
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on October 19th 2010After one-upping formidable acts Thursday and Jesu on splits, Envy has finally returned to the full-length game with Recitation. Where those splits found the Japanese post-hardcore group composing epic, emotional outbursts that rose and fell within 20 minutes or so, Recitation is a far more epic end.

After one-upping formidable acts Thursday and Jesu on splits, Envy has finally returned to the full-length game with Recitation. Where those splits found the Japanese post-hardcore group composing epic, emotional outbursts that rose and fell within 20 minutes or so, Recitation is a far more epic endeavor. Over the course of 65 minutes, Envy goes through a series of ups and downs. While the song meanings might not always be clear--the lyrics are in Japanese, after all--there is still plenty of passion packed in that transcends language barriers.

Running just over an hour, though, the album might test some folks' patience. Recitation goes through two intros, first on "Guidance," the spoken-word opening track featuring Kaoru Okunuki, and then again for the gentle first five minutes of "Last Hours of Conformity." This is a record of contrasts, kind of like a more extreme Mogwai, and so the record takes its time setting itself up. Here in the good ol' U.S. of A., we like our albums to open with explosions and big choruses. But Envy makes the listener work for it, cultivating atmosphere in order to make their hardcore passages that much more intense. Enjoy the gentle moments, because shit gets real once vocalist Tetsuya Fukagawa starts screaming.

Suddenly the twin guitars of Nobukata Kawai and Masahiro Tobita stop shimmering and start shredding. Drummer Dairoku Seki finally gets something to do: Thunderous toms and cymbals crash in over shoegaze guitars. It's huge and then it suddenly stops. Then the band resets for "Rain Clouds Running in a Holy Night," slowly building up into a punk outburst.

By the end of "Rain Clouds," Recitation has gone through an entire album's worth of dynamics in just 20 minutes. The record then decides to kick ass for a bit before settling into a dreamy, Jesu-style ambience. The second half of the record starts to simplify a little, in that individual songs settle for one specific tempo rather than jumping around. But then, Recitation feels interconnected from start to finish. While in the act of listening, distinguishing between tracks seems irrelevant.

Okunuki returns for the closing track, "Your Hand," by which time Recitation should have won over listeners. The album takes a while to assert itself, but that's part of its charm. It's a dark masterpiece. An expansive work that's beautifully violent and vice versa, it could easily appeal to fans of M83 and Deftones alike. However you define it, Recitation finds Envy yet again beating out Western acts.

Login to rate this album

People who liked this also liked:

Please login or register to post comments.What are the benefits of having a Punknews.org account?

Share your opinion by posting comments on the stories that interest you
Rate music and bands and help shape the weekly top ten
Let Punknews.org use your ratings to help you find bands and albums you might like
Customize features on the site to get the news the way you want.

Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

racecargrin (November 2, 2010)

this album destroys.

overdefined (October 25, 2010)

I like this record a lot, but has anyone noticed the Christmas song melodies sprinkled throughout?

bestmbt (October 21, 2010)

The Hottest Pop Star on earth has teamed up with the Hottest Fashion Accessory: silly bandz is releasing the most popular pack of Silly Bandz to date: The Justin Beiber silly bandz.
power balance is Performance Technology designed to work with your body's natural energy field.
EFX braceleteffectively tunes the body, immediately unleashing its full potential for function and performance.
Let us crazy mbt shoes , mbt shoes sale of our most popular,you can find the best prices MBT shoes for sell from us .
mbt shoes have been specially designed by physiologists to offer a natural uneven,All mbt shoes wiht big discount were free shipping and not any tax from now on.
The Company mainly dealing with wedding dresses and evening dress and so on, the company's products good quality, fashionable and affordable.

wearestillalive (October 20, 2010)

I actually liked Thursday's half of that split better, because they actually took me by surprise and released some of the best music of their career up to that point, whereas Envy's half was a little... lacking. I dunno. Envy are amazing, though, I will get to this record eventually.

R3vengeTherapy (October 20, 2010)

That artwork is gorgeous.

thirtyseconds (October 19, 2010)

Yeah, agreed. This is a 9 in my opinion.

Piata (October 19, 2010)

Decent review, but I think Recitation deserved a 4.5 or even 5 stars. It may be a little long for most people (1h05m) but this is the kind of album that demands to be listened to from start to finish. There's not even any glaring flaws or things that could be improved unless you have a short attention span and want a 30 minute kick ass record with no subtler moments.

Also it's "Last Hours Of Eternity", not "Last Hours Of Conformity".

eatdogs (October 19, 2010)

great album, but like i've mentioned before, i wish they took a lil' bit more of the electronic textures they used on the two split albums you mentioned and expanded on them. that's just something more i would have liked, but hey, it's not a big deal. i'm just glad they finally gave us a new record. oh, and the use of an acoustic guitar really adds to the overall ambience. also, i think the singer is even more gruffer than usual. it deffinitely adds to the heavyness.

Rastid (October 19, 2010)

yeah, much respect, but i didn't really have the patience for this. can't really blame envy for that, though...