At the risk of sounding like an old fart, there’s just not enough good British bands around for my liking. Considering the UK’s heritage and appetite for all things rock’n’roll, it seems like there’s too few top class bands and too many average ones.
Which is why Envoys come as a nice surprise. In their debut, Violescent, the Leeds-based quartet have created a quality slab of Post Metal al a Pelican, featuring swirling masses of riffs that quickly leads to periods of quiet reflection, before thundering in again.
Opening with the instrumental ‘Bread & Bullfights’, we’re treated to seven minutes off kilter riffs, thunderous drums, strings sections, and a host of time and mood changes. And for over 45 minutes, the record takes you on a continuing trip, varying the mood and tempo, but retaining a sense of heaviness.
At times Envoys are reminiscent of early Baroness, Welsh-shredders Taint and sludgey proggers Gracyeon. Envoys are great at creating dense atmospherics, layered with crunching guitars; ‘Ego Is The Mankiller’ starts with quiet picked melodies before picking up the tempo and building to a crashing crescendo, and then stops to start it all over again. The eight-minute ‘To Serve Three Masters’ is a menagerie of time changes and turbulent shredding.
Despite most of songs featuring vocals, it often feels like a purely instrumental record. The vocals appear sparingly through the songs at varying intervals, often coming in the final few minutes of a track. The vocals themselves range from a quiet rasp to a throaty bark. The album was self-produced, which is possibly why the vocals can get a bit lost in the music, but it’s a minor grumble in an otherwise excellent album.
There’s no one stand out track on this album, rather they all come together to create a rich album full of twists and turns. All in all, Violescent is an assured and impressive debut album, well worth a listen for anyone looking for a British band to champion or some atmospherics metal to get lost in.
8.5/10
Dan Swinhoe