Warren Suicide: Requiem For A Missing Link

Sex and death go together better than one might immediately think; just look at Freud or goth rock. Both fundamental human drives provide a touch a danger, and a glimpse into something in many ways unknown and otherworldly. Warren Suicide, aka Cherie and Nackt (cool enough to only need first names) are intimately familiar with and fascinated by this, as is made apparent on their latest release, Requiem for a Missing Link.

“I try to love / what I don’t understand,” shouts Nackt on opener “Sometimes”, shouting chaotically, to which Cherie calmly responds, “do you still love me, after all that has been?” Requiem works best with the focus on this extreme sexual tension between the duo; sometimes, though, it’s just balls-out hardcore electro-rock, taking a page from fellow Shitkatapult artist and label-founder T. Raumschmiere. Elsewhere, Requiem features its share of trips, including overeager numbers like “The Cage”, where the kitchen sink of synth, strings, guitar, and percussion cuts fail to distract from the fact that there isn’t any kind of memorable hook.

Luckily, “The Cage” is followed by “Knock Knock”, the powerhouse of a single, finds Cherie and Nackt envisioning some sort of chaotic hell of an avenue, a “parking space for the human race,” known as “Warren Street”, over primal kick drum stomps and digitally distorted grit. “Good Morning Lord” is sexed-up electro rockabilly, as Nackt yelps about “two lovers find[ing] a place to fuck,” who become “two freaks living endlessly” — much like Warren Suicide themselves.