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Draft:The Fallen Crimson

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The Fallen Crimson
Studio album by
Envy
Released7 February 2020
RecordedSummer 2019
Studios
Genres
Length54:27
LabelsTemporary Residence Limited
Pelagic Records
Sonzai Records
Envy chronology
Atheist's Cornea
(2015)		 The Fallen Crimson
(2020)		 Eunoia
(2024)
Singles from The Fallen Crimson
  1. "A Step in the Morning Glow"
    Released: 14 November 2019
  2. "A Faint New World"
    Released: 17 January 2020

The Fallen Crimson is the seventh studio album by Japanese screamo band Envy, released on 7 February 2020.

Background and release

[edit]

Envy released their sixth studio album, Atheist's Cornea, in 2015. On 1 April the following year, vocalist Tetsuya Fukagawa, who had been with the band since their inception, announced his departure from the band for unspecified reasons.[1][2] Their guitarist Masahiro Tobita departed the band shortly thereafter, as did drummer Dairoku Seki. The remaining members—guitarist Nobukata Kawai and bassist Manabu Nakagawa—chose to continue as Envy. They recruited three new members: guitarists Yoshimitsu Taki and yOshi; and drummer Hiroki Watanabe. However, they nearly disbanded as they cycled through numerous vocalists. During a show on 1 April 2018 – the two-year anniversary of Fukagawa's departure, and the first day of the Japanese fiscal year – Fukagawa unexpectedly joined the band on stage.[3] The band followed this by releasing an extended play (EP), Alnair in August, on 2 November, with Fukagawa having officially rejoined the band. The EP contained two songs: "Marginalized Thread" and "Dawn and Gaze".[4]

Envy began working on their seventh studio album in early 2019. According to Kawai, the band wrote songs in as little as "two or three hours".[3] The band and their crew traveled to the northeastern United States to complete the album. During the summer, Daisuke Yamashita engineered and mixed the album at Ultra Vibe in Powerhouse Studio in East Hanover, New Jersey. Josh Bonati mastered the album at Bonati Mastering in New York City.[5] On 1 November, Envy announced that The Fallen Crimson would be released on 7 February 2020. They simultaneously unveiled the album's tracklist, which contained both "Marginalized Thread" and "Dawn and Gaze" as the fifth and ninth tracks out of 11. They also released a trailer for the album, which itself featured teaser for its third track, "A Faint New World".[6] The band released the album's closer, "A Step in the Morning Glow", as its lead single on 14 November 2019.[7] "A Faint New World" followed as the album's second single on 17 January 2020; the band released an accompanying music video six days later.[8][9]

Music and lyrics

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The Fallen Crimson is primarily a post-hardcore, screamo, and post-rock album.[a]

Reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Distorted Sound Magazine8/10[10]
Kerrang!4/5[16]
Ox-FanzineStarStarStarStar[17]
PunknewsStarStarStarStar[18]

The Fallen Crimson received positive reviews from music critics. Writing for Stereogum, which selected it as their "Album of the Week", Tom Breihan praised it for its simultaneously pristine and intense qualities; its command of tension and release; and Fukagawa's diverse vocals. He further considered the album to be an immersive listening experience and accessible to anyone who had not yet listened to Envy. Additionally, he commented that it could lend poignance and catharsis to "the dumbest show on TV ... and that show would magically transform into a raw and bruising emotional experience for anyone watching."[11] Punknews gave the album four stars out of five and called it one of the band's most accessible and best albums. The reviewer highlighted the tracks "Marginalized Thread" and "Hikari" as filmic and unpredictable, and remarked that the emotional impact of the lyrics transcended the language barrier. They also complimented "Rhythm" as a highly successful experiment in including a woman's vocals, "worth its weight in gold".[18]

In a review for Kerrang!, Olly Thomas rated The Fallen Crimson four out of five and hailed it as "a potent reminder that Envy were successfully blending cataclysmic heaviness and seductive beauty long before anyone had coined the term blackgaze." They further remarked that even the album's heaviest moments were uplifting, citing "Marginalized Thread" as an example.[16] Invisible Oranges writer Alex Brown praised the album for its "cinematic" qualities and emotional resonance. He lauded Achico's guest vocals on "Rhythm" and the harsh vocals of Fukugawa throughout the album. However, he also criticized the spoken word passages as monotonous, lamenting that they diluted the album's intensity.[14] Daniel Fella in a review for Distorted Sound Magazine praised the album for fusing hardcore punk and post-rock in an unorthodox yet effective manner, opining that the band were revitalized by Fukugawa's return. He found the album to be eclectic yet coherent, while also the band's catchiest album to date.[10]

Reviewers frequently highlighted "Statement of Freedom". Breihan and Fella praised the song as a forceful opener to The Fallen Crimson, while also lauding the song for incorporating melody and spoken word as it progressed.[10][11] Punknews wrote that it embodied the "political edges" of the album, and complimented its personal lyricism.[18] Thomas considered it to be a relatively straightforward song on an album which blended several contradictory elements.[16]

Year-end rankings

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Kerrang! ranked The Fallen Crimson at number 30 on its list of the best albums of 2020; writer Sam Coare praised the album for its vitality in defience of the band nearly breaking up, and for the diversity of the vocal performances.[19] Two writers for Metal Injection, Frank Godla and Riley Rowe, each placed the album on separate year-end lists: Godla on an unranked top 15, and Rowe at number seven.[12][13]

Track listing

[edit]
No.TitleLength
1."Statement of Freedom"3:49
2."Swaying Leaves and Scattering Breath"4:13
3."A Faint New World"5:28
4."Rhythm"6:21
5."Marginalized Thread"3:34
6."HIKARI"5:36
7."Eternal Memories and Reincarnation"3:09
8."Fingerprint Mark"3:05
9."Dawn and Gaze"6:44
10."Memories and the Limit"5:09
11."A Step in the Morning Glow"7:14
Total length:54:27

Personnel

[edit]

Credits are adapted from the liner notes.[5]

  • Envy – performance
    • Tetsuya Fukagawa
    • Nobukata Kawai
    • Manabu Nakagawa
    • Yoshimitsu Taki
    • Hiroki Watanabe
    • yOshi
  • Achiko – vocals (4)
  • Josh Bonati – mastering
  • David V. D'Andrea – artwork
  • Hayato Minesaki – English translations
  • Taku Nakai – design
  • TOWA – insert painting
  • Osami Yabuta – photography
  • Daisuke Yamashita – engineering, mixing
  • yOshi – English translations

Notes

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  1. ↑ Attributed to multiple sources:[10][11][12][13][14][15]

References

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  1. ↑ Sacher, Andrew (6 April 2016). "Envy vocalist leaves band". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved 27 August 2026.
  2. ↑ Adams, Gregory (5 April 2016). "Envy singer Tetsuya Fukagawa leaves band". Exclaim!. Retrieved 27 August 2026.
  3. 1 2 Stewart-Panko, Kevin (22 January 2020). "Inside the unexpected return of Japanese post-hardcore heroes Envy". Bandcamp Daily. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
  4. ↑ Sacher, Andrew (2 November 2018). "Envy return with first release in three years, 'Alnair in August' (listen)". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved 27 August 2026.
  5. 1 2 Envy (2020). The Fallen Crimson (liner notes [CD]). Temporary Residence Limited. TRR341CD.
  6. ↑ Pearis, Bill (1 November 2019). "Envy announce first album in five years, 'The Fallen Crimson' (watch the trailer)". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved 28 August 2026.
  7. ↑ Hughes, Josiah (14 November 2019). "Envy share new single from forthcoming album 'The Fallen Crimson'". Exclaim!. Retrieved 28 August 2026.
  8. ↑ Sacher, Andrew (17 January 2020). "Envy share new song; guitarist yOshi lists his 2019 faves". Brooklyn Vegan. Retrieved 26 September 2026.
  9. ↑ Weaver, James (23 January 2020). "envy release new music video for 'A Faint New World'". Distorted Sound Magazine. Retrieved 26 September 2026.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Fella, Daniel (7 February 2020). "ALBUM REVIEW: The Fallen Crimson – envy". Distorted Sound Magazine. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  11. 1 2 3 Breihan, Tom (4 February 2020). "Album Of The Week: Envy The Fallen Crimson". Stereogum. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  12. 1 2 Godla, Frank (30 December 2020). "Frank's top 15 of 2020". Metal Injection. Retrieved 4 October 2026.
  13. 1 2 Rowe, Riley (21 December 2020). "Riley's top 20 albums of 2020". Metal Injection. Retrieved 4 October 2026.
  14. 1 2 Brown, Alex (19 February 2020). "Surging After the Fall: Envy's "The Fallen Crimson" is an Atmospheric Rush". Invisible Oranges. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  15. ↑ Count Radula (13 February 2020). "Envy – The Fallen Crimson – review". Metal Storm. Retrieved 4 October 2026.
  16. 1 2 3 Thomas, Olly (6 February 2020). "Album Review: Envy – The Fallen Crimson". Kerrang!. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
  17. ↑ Hiller, Joachim (April/May 2020). "Review – Envy – The Fallen Crimson – Ausgabe #149". Ox-Fanzine (in German). No. 149. Retrieved 4 October 2026. {{cite magazine}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. 1 2 3 "Envy - The Fallen Crimson (2020)". Punknews.org. 23 March 2020. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  19. ↑ Coare, Sam (16 December 2020). "The 50 greatest albums of 2020". Kerrang!. Retrieved 4 October 2026.
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