If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from these monthly voting sessions, it’s that you can expect an eclectic mix of albums, and, sometimes, the unexpected. Though Sputnikmusic is notorious for favouring post-rock music as its dominant preference, and even though I had good money on Envy’s The Fallen Crimson taking February’s crown, it didn’t stop the poll from being a surprisingly fierce one. Fighting tooth and nail with Spanish Love Songs’ Brave Faces Everyone, Envy’s trailblazing return just in so garnered the votes for February’s Album of the Month win. After a turbulent decade for Envy, the band have clearly delivered an album the fans can rejoice at, and the results speak for themselves.  With that, Sputnik user Sniff will shed some light on why it’s the obvious choice.

February 2020 AOTM: Envy – The Fallen Crimson

“Here’s a short list of random, great and memorable comebacks:

– Super Bowl LI. You know, the year Patriots tricked us all into believing they wouldn’t win it that year.
– Tiger Woods – The Masters. 3955 days and a whole bunch of problems (both on and off the golf course); later he went and won another major.
– Liverpool in the Champions League final of ’05 – the 3 fast goals that took it to extra time will never be forgotten.
– David Bowie – The Next Day. After 10 years and out of “retirement”, he drops another acclaimed album.
– Meat Loaf’s “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)”. The song that no one thought they wanted, but everyone really, really, really wanted, came some 10 years after the last good Meat Loaf song.

After releasing The Fallen Crimson, I’d argue it’s time to add Envy to the list above. Hear me out here; Envy releasing an album in 2020 is nothing short of astonishing (read full story here: https://daily.bandcamp.com/features/envy-the-fallen-crimson-interview). Envy releasing an album this good in 2020 is nothing short of extraordinary, given that it had been almost 15 years since their last “worthwhile” effort. But somehow here we are in 2020 and Sputnik has voted the new Envy album as its Album of the Month in February. Even though The Fallen Crimson is not the best work of Envy’s, it’s pretty damn close. And to me, it’s a very well-deserved number one spot for Album of the Month.” – Sniff