So, I really didn’t discover She Wants Revenge until they covered “Kidnap the Sandy Claws” on the Nightmare Revisited album, but promptly got their two, full-length albums, She Wants Revenge and This is Forever, afterwards.
Unfortunately, those two albums got lost in the mess of music on my computer and sort of fell to the wayside. Well, they’ve certainly returned in full force in conjunction with their first full length album in nearly five years, Valleyheart .
Apparently, there is some sort of argument as to what genre She Wants Revenge actually falls into, which is a good thing. Too often, bands lump themselves into an incredibly limiting “genre” and do little to expand their horizons. Well, not this Californian duo. “Darkwave”, “Goth Rock”, and “Synthpop” get tossed around a lot, but you’ve gotta add “Dance”, “New Wave”, “Post Punk”, and plain ol’ “Rock and Roll” to that listing.
This album seems to be the magnum opus, thus far. Sexy and dark, it’s really a mood album more than anything. Pulling inspiration from bands like Interpol, Joy Division, New Order, Depeche Mode, and even the Killers, they provide an eclectic yet cohesive sound across the board. Singer, Justin Warfield, describes their sounds as “dark dance“, which I can totally get behind.
This album has everything from sultry, goth tracks like the opener, “Take the World” to stadium rockers like “Up in Flames”. And while certainly clean and well-produced, there remains just the slightest splinter of raw, gritty edge to it. They’re taking a well traversed path and twisting it to get to their own destination, which is pretty cool considering how many cookie cutter artists are out there these days.
The only for-sure, skip-able, track on this album is “Must Be the One”, an almost sickeningly sweet, U2 inspired, flop. Other than that, in comparison, I think that this album is by far their most upbeat, their most electronic, and their best. Here’s to hoping that their next one’s even better! B
Check it out for yourself, streaming for free on their Myspace. You can also get your She Wants Revenge fix on Twitter, Facebook, and their site.
Have a good weekend everybody, and wish me luck, because it’s that time of year again!
“Take the World”
That Girl With A Blog 