She Wants Revenge: She Wants Revenge : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

In 1993, Justin Warfield released a soon-forgotten Prince Paul-produced hip-hop debut in which he leapt onto the hippie rap bandwagon four years too late. Now he's fronting She Wants Revenge, a retro goth-pop duo that out-Interpols Interpol, deploying snippets of Joy Division, Bauhaus, the Cure and other dark New Wave acts with a precision that borders on parody. Full of one-note bass-guitar plucking, cheap drum machines, pointed rough-sex poetry and heavily haunted vocal mannerisms, the pair's debut provokes much hilarity, despite the serious intentions of its inspirations: "Just give me the safe word, and take your hand/And smack me in the mouth, my love," Warfield deadpans in "Monologue." But peak tracks like "Tear You Apart" hit their sleazy targets regardless of their obviousness. She Wants Revenge steal from the best, and steal well.