She Wants Revenge

Item: She Wants Revenge
Author: Peter Veness

(2006)

Reviewed by Peter Veness

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Label Geffen RecordsDecapolisDecember 2005

dance rock post-punk

And we have a contender for worst album of '06

Ian Kevin Curtis - here and after known as IKC - has a heap to posthumously apologise for. She Wants Revenge - here and after known as Awful - will be the it band of January. They've already spun the Spin and won and claim they are reaching back to NYC circa 67. It's a lie and Awful know it.

Instead of merely being influenced by IKC, Awful channel him with their ouija board full of effected guitars and barely satisfactory beats. Worse still, this glut of gloom reads like a concept album and the duo have admitted as much, claiming the LP is a series of love letters to ladies they have fallen for. NYC under the direction of Warhol was a much different story to what we see now. Bands and artists came together for reasons other than emulating their idols - like the NYC of now does. And because of that, the Velvet Underground and Warhol broke artistic ground, which has rarely been moved since. If awful think they're in any way linked by the alleged brilliance of their art to the aforementioned legends then they are delusional.

Red Flags and Long Nights steals without thought from Turn on the Bright Lights and then tries to hide the theft with an electro warble. Then you wait to roll your eyes when moaner Justin Warfield opens his mouth, delivering the best IKC impersonation since, well, IKC. The only problem is he does it without the required depth of emotion; it's more an act than a plea for help like it so often was with Curtis.

If there is a redeeming feature in this mess it is the danceability of the handful of singles this tiresome wreck will create. Of those, I Don't Want To Fall In Love is the pick with a Franz Ferdinand inspired disco beat and a crunchy breakdown. But if that's the best these lads have to offer they should pick up their kit and move along.

0.5/4