She Wants Revenge

When you think of Limp Bizkit lead singer Fred Durst, the thought that comes to mind is most likely something along the lines of an angry little white guy screaming and rapping over loud, grinding guitars. Despite the fact that Fred and his band were one of the biggest nu-metal acts a few years ago, it might be surprising to know that Fred is actually a huge fan of ‘80s electronica and pop music a la Frankie Goes To Hollywood and George Michael.

This love of ‘80s music led Fred to sign the ‘80s throwback band She Wants Revenge to his record label. Surprisingly, She Wants Revenge is only a two piece band consisting of singer Justin Warfield and bassist Adam 12. The two of them have just released She Wants Revenge’s debut self-titled disc and despite borrowing heavily from the likes of Depeche Mode, it’s a decent debut effort with a compelling, dark sound.

There are a number of good songs on this twelve track disc, but most of them come in the first half. “Red Flags and Long Nights” wastes no time introducing the listener to She Wants Revenge’s retro sound with a long electronic, drum machine intro. This song serves its purpose well of introducing the band’s sound and despite the fact the intro is a bit too long, it’s a catchy song.

“These Things” is slower paced with another catchy chorus and we get the first taste of Warfield’s sexually motivated lyrics (e.g. “…she’s in the bathroom, she pleasures herself…”) “I Don’t Wanna Fall In Love” has an upbeat dance kind of beat and Warfield’s voice sounds particularly computer like. The next two songs “Out of Control” and “Monologue” are slower paced, but catchy as hell with beats that sound like they were definitely borrowed from the Depeche Mode catalogue. By the next track “Broken Promises for Broken Hearts,” it’s obvious that Warfield hasn’t had the best of luck with women as he sounds like he’s ready to cry on the song.

The second half of the album includes a couple of good songs, but at this point the band’s sound and the subject matter of the lyrics starts to get a bit tired. “Disconnect” is an instrumental album filler that really isn’t worth listening to more than once followed by “Us,” a decent song about, you guessed it, woman problems. The last real good song is track eleven, She Wants Revenge’s first single called “Tear You Apart.” I found it very bizarre that the debut single from a band’s debut CD would come almost at the very end, but nonetheless, it’s one of the better tracks. Unfortunately it kind of gets lost being placed at the end of the album and it would have made more sense to put it third or fourth.

All in all, She Wants Revenge has come up with a good debut album that rediscovers the sounds of the ‘80s. The disc has about a half a dozen very good songs intertwined with a few tolerable and not so tolerable songs. The band’s sound and Warfield’s ex-girlfriend type lyrics do start to get kind of tiresome by the last few songs, but the production work on the album is quite stellar. If you’re feeling nostalgic about the ‘80s, then give She Wants Revenge a chance.  [ END ]

Track Listing:

01. Red Flags And Long Nights
02. These Things
03. I Don’t Want To Fall In Love
04. Out Of Control
05. Monologue
06. Broken Promises For Broken Hearts
07. Sister
08. Disconnect
09. Us
10. Someone Must Get Hurt
11. Tear Your Apart
12. She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not

Run Time: 53:03