n the current state of American hardcore (and music in general), bands often emulate each other to varying degrees- some choose to copy a specific part of the more popular bands overall aesthetic, expanding upon it, hoping to create something new and different. Others blatantly steal ideas in a misguided effort to “pay tribute”. In Japan, Envy is the band that has their riffs stolen by less popular bands, having the same “scene status” as many American (South American, European, et cetera) bands would in their own respective cities. Envy is “the band that others imitate”, having created an album that is distant enough from American (et cetera) hardcore, but not so foreign that it is unattractive.


“Zero”, the first song on All the Footprints You’ve Ever left and the Fear Expecting Ahead is a meandering introductory type piece that doesn't prepare the listener for the subsequent songs- and in fact, exactly the opposite is true. After being lulled into a dazed introspection, the shock of the songs following is markedly greater than if the disc began on the second track. It is a rather clever idea, if it was done purposefully. If not, it still effectively acts as a sort of aural sleep before waking into a drivingly chaotic world.


The songs themselves are fairly indistinguishable, aside from a few key drum fills and guitar parts, but ultimately, their likeness to each other is a good thing. This disc works as the type that cannot be skipped through to reach a favorite song. Though, most likely not intended to work in this way, the album as a whole is the document, each song a chapter, each relating to the previous, but separate enough to have their own defining characteristics. “Farewell to Words” and “Left Hand” for example are both songs that, like the album, show qualities most good hardcore contains- variation in theme, effective transitions, buildups to unexpected climaxes, et cetera. Each is strikingly dynamic and could be used as representations of the album and its own overall structure.


The packaging is minimal- the cover (reminiscent of an older 400 Years T-shirt) is a picture with the requisite band/album name beneath, centered on a flat black background with glossy typewritten lyrics (?) visible only at an angle. The lyrics themselves (in Japanese and English) are all that comprise the pages of the booklet. In reading the translated (english) lyrics, I wonder If there is something I am missing, because I am not fluent in Japanese.


It is no wonder that Japanese hardcore kids wish to copy this band- they seem to be as close as any band could come to definitive of hardcore, American or otherwise.