Envy never “exploded” onto the scene. They never had any hit single that blasted to number one on the charts, nor did they blow anyone away with a distinctly innovative style. The only thing remotely gimmicky about them is their insistence on singing all their songs in Japanese, but since they hail from Japan, this is hardly any surprise at all. What truly sets Envy apart from everyone else is the sheer passion they exhibit in their field of expertise. After nearly a decade, they released their 2001 epic, “All the Footprints You’ve Ever Left and the Fear Expecting Ahead”. Envy, much like their songs, and very unlike many other groups, tends to just get better as they progress, incorporating new ideas while not straying too far away from what makes them so great.
An ominous precursor of what’s to come, “Zero”, the introductory track, slowly kicks in and sets a general tone for “All the Footprints You’ve Ever Left and the Fear Expecting Ahead”, which can generally be described as dark and emotive, as Envy tends to be. “Zero” has a cool, easy going vibe to it. Even as the dynamics of the song shift into more complexities, the song retains its groove throughout. With its condemningly decisive drum line, stinging and smooth guitar riffs, and murky bass line, “Zero” ends on a sustained single note, segueing into the next song, “Farewell to Words”, thus pioneering a different set of dynamics and sound for the album, while at the same time maintaining its tone.
“Farewell to Words” is a nearly three minute epic, demonstrating Envy’s abilities to entrance its listeners and coerce emotion without the use of long, repetitive riffs and vocals. In fact, many of the songs on this album are great achievements in this sense. Unlike its successor, the songs on “All the Footprints” tend to be short, sweet, and laden with all kinds of dynamics. Songs like “Farewell to Words” and “Left Hand” are excellent examples of Envy’s ability to take the listener on a journey through harsh vocals and angry, emotive guitar.
Other songs, however, such as “A Cage It Falls Into”, dwell on the slow buildup – one of Envy’s most recognizable motifs. The song begins with a sort of clumsily sounding dual guitar piece, accentuated by the exceptional drumming of Dairoku Seki, who does not simply and mindlessly bang away on the snare as other in this genre do, but who instead actually uses his instrument as just that – an instrument. After about two minutes and thirteen seconds into the song, the clean guitars and easy drumming are replaced with violently beautiful strumming, beating, and screaming. “A Cage It Falls Into” is one of the most beautiful and uplifting songs ever written by Envy. In addition to “A Cage It Falls Into”, the final two tracks, “The Light of My Footprints” and “Your Shoes and the World to Come” also exhibit Envy’s knack for building up tension, the former of the two being the buildup, while the latter acts as the pay off. All three of these tracks display true artistic merit, taking Envy beyond simply being lumped into the hardcore or screamo genres.
Compared to previous and later works by Envy, “All the Footprints” generally maintains a faster, more punk-driven pace in its songs, and while it does draw on the emotive side of the musical spectrum, it’s not as prominent as in other Envy works, though there are some exceptions. “Mystery and Peace” opens almost immediately with agonizing, painful, emotion laden screams, further exacerbated by slow, melancholically melodic guitar and rhythmically inclined bass and drums. The song, however, takes an unexpected turn, as Tetsuya does something he rarely does – he sings.
Though singing on other Envy albums is mostly limited to mere low decibel chants and recitations, Tetsuya takes this to a different level on “All the Footprints”. While not an exceptionally strong or diverse singer, Tetsuya’s singing vocals are utilized at integral moments with enough conviction and feeling to take Envy’s music above and beyond the orthodoxy of its genius, onto a new musical plateau. Songs such as “Mystery and Peace”, “A Cradle of Arguments and Anxiousness”, and “The Spiral Manipulation” offer a different and intriguing light in which can absorb the gloriously beautiful music that Envy has to offer.
However, even as “All the Footprints” is a pleasant diversion from Envy’s usual shtick, it does have its pitfalls. Unlike other works by Envy, especially as in “A Dead Sinking Story”, the songs on “All the Footprints” lack continuity and easy transition between one another. While most of the songs do generate the same dark and emotive vibe, Envy’s gift for stringing together their work is nearly all but lost on this album, save for the final two tracks, “The Light of my Footprints” and “Your Shoes and the World to Come”, which in themselves are a departure in style, leaning more towards that of “A Dead Sinking Story”. Many of the songs on “All the Footprints” give the feeling that they could be singles heard on the local rock station – if bands like this even had singles that were played on the radio. This takes away from the vibe of the album. Envy is not a band that makes good songs; Envy makes good albums, and this is not completely realized in “All the Footprints”.
With that said, some songs on “All the Footprints” just aren’t as successfully executed as they could be. “Mystery and Peace”, while drawing on different facets of Envy’s brilliant song structure techniques, is by far not one of their highlighting moments. And while “A Cradle of Arguments and Anxiousness” is a nice departure from conventional Envy style, it has a tendency to lag and be somewhat anti-climactic.
However, with these criticisms noted, this albums is still, simply put, yet another amazing work by Envy. The same points sparking criticism on some songs are also what makes other so good and beautiful to listen to. For those who may have never heard of Envy, this album is a great introduction to an even better band. In fact the first song I heard from Envy was “Left Hand”, one of the greatest songs they’ve ever made, and with that, it turned me on to a whole new genre.
In conclusion, I rate this album a 4/5. The brilliantly arranged songs and beautiful yet not overly emotive tone of this album is only mauled slightly by a few slow tracks and a lack of continuity.
