Envy

The 2006 full-length Insomniac Doze was Envy's first album to be released simultaneously by Sonzai, Rock Action, and Temporary Residence (who would subsequently issue many of the group's previous releases stateside for the first time). The album was easily the group's most atmospheric, cinematic effort yet, with suite-like songs stretching out to 15 minutes in length. In 2007, the band released the mini-album Abyssal and the DVD Transfovista. The year 2008 saw Envy releasing split EPs with New Jersey-based emo group Thursday as well as Justin Broadrick's post-Godflesh project Jesu. Envy's next full-length, Recitation, arrived in 2010, and was another sprawling, atmospheric epic. In 2013, while awaiting the group's next full-length, Temporary Residence released Invariable Will, Recurring Ebbs and Flows, a limited 14-LP box set containing the group's entire discography, two DVDs, and a 100-page book containing photos and lyrics to all of the group's songs in both English and Japanese. Atheist's Cornea arrived in 2015, and was the group's shortest and most focused full-length in over a decade. The next few years saw some major shake-ups in Envy's lineup that would create a period of crisis within the band. Fukagawa left in 2016, followed by Tobita and Seki; in February 2018 a new lineup was announced which featured Yoshimitsu Taki (9mm Parabellum Bullet) and Yoshi on guitars, and Hiroki Watanabe on drums. In April of that year, Fukagawa surprisingly rejoined. The band undertook a European tour in 2019; when they got back in June, they had enough material for a new album, which they recorded immediately. The result, The Fallen Crimson, was released in February 2020. ~ Chris True & Paul Simpson, Rovi