SHERELLE WITH A VENGEANCE
SHERELLE's WITH A VENGEANCE channels club fury into something intellectually alive and viscerally thrilling, a record where scholarship and sweat meet on the dancefloor. Across three professional reviews critics found the collection both a history lesson in bass-forward genres and a celebration of resiliency, praising how high-tempo house, garage, jungle and footwork cohere into moments of real feeling.
The critical consensus awards WITH A VENGEANCE a 79/100 across three professional reviews, and reviewers consistently singled out standout tracks as proof of the album's range and focus. “WITH A VENGEANCE” emerges as the ferocious centerpiece, its acid-house sirens and machine-gun breakbeats earning repeated praise. Equally cited among the best songs on the record are “XTC”, “DON'T WANT U” and “SPEED (ENDURANCE)”, with “LOVE YOUR ENEMIES” and “FREAKY (JUST MY TYPE)” noted for marrying human vocal hooks to jungle rolls and sax-driven drama. Critics praise SHERELLE's ability to navigate club-facing intensity without losing emotionality or community-minded scholarship.
While some reviewers emphasize the record's unrelenting pace, others frame that relentlessness as its point: catharsis, tenacity and a lived-in celebration of Black and queer contributions to dance music. The collection reads as both a confident evolution and a recommitment to the DJ's role as cultural historian, making WITH A VENGEANCE a must-listen for anyone curious about the best songs on the album and the current state of high-tempo club music. Read on for full reviews and track-by-track notes.
Critics' Top Tracks
The standout songs that made critics take notice
WITH A VENGEANCE
3 mentions
"making them sound like a four-minute-warning for nuclear war (a trick that Sherelle repeats on the title track and elsewhere)."— The Guardian
DON'T WANT U
3 mentions
"Then it’s into Don’t Want U, which shows how deeply schooled Sherelle is in dance music history."— The Guardian
XTC
3 mentions
"The relentless roll of XTC is topped with the kind of euphoric vocal warble"— The Guardian
making them sound like a four-minute-warning for nuclear war (a trick that Sherelle repeats on the title track and elsewhere).
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
ENTER THE VOID
DON'T WANT U
WITH A VENGEANCE
XTC
FREAKY (JUST MY TYPE)
READY, STEADY, GO!
SPEED (ENDURANCE)
XTC SUSP9ND3D
LOVE YOUR ENEMIES
THRU THE NITE
What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 4 critics who reviewed this album
Critic's Take
SHERELLE's WITH A VENGEANCE feels like a scholarly, adrenaline-fueled tour of high-speed dance music, and the best songs land because they balance raw club energy with unexpected feeling. The title track “WITH A VENGEANCE” assaults with acid-house sirens and machine-gun breakbeats, making it one of the best tracks on WITH A VENGEANCE for sheer ferocity. Likewise, “DON'T WANT U” ranks among the best songs on the album for its ratcheting intensity and the ferocious vocal exclamation that punctuates the drop. Elsewhere, “FREAKY (JUST MY TYPE)” serves as the emotional center, its radio-friendly chorus collapsing back into jungle rolls, proving SHERELLE can make crowd-pleasing hooks and keep the DJ booth in sight.
Key Points
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The best song is the title track because its acid-house sirens and jittering breakbeats embody the album's ferocious intent.
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The album's core strength is melding scholarly knowledge of genre history with breathless, emotionally resonant high-speed dance production.
Themes
Re
Critic's Take
SHERELLE's WITH A VENGEANCE is presented as a bold leap into club-facing sounds, and the review lingers most on the kinetic opener “ENTER THE VOID” and the title track “WITH A VENGEANCE” as high points. The writer's voice is measured but admiring, noting how she steps outside her comfort zone into garage, East Coast club and house while retaining bassy staples. The best tracks on WITH A VENGEANCE are framed as proof of range - the opener's electricity and the title track's focus are singled out as defining moments. This reads like a clear recommendation for listeners seeking the best songs on WITH A VENGEANCE without sacrificing SHERELLE's core identity.
Key Points
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The best song is the opener because it announces SHERELLE's electric leap into garage and club territory.
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The album's core strength is blending bass-driven roots with explorations of garage, East Coast club and house styles.
Themes
Critic's Take
In this review Ben Beaumont-Thomas presents SHERELLE’s WITH A VENGEANCE as an unrelenting, joyfully pandemonious record whose best tracks - “XTC” and “Speed (Endurance)” - crystallise her blend of jungle, footwork and rave euphoria. He writes with brisk authority, admiring how “Don’t Want U” and “Love Your Enemies” marry transatlantic footwork swagger to dubstep and sax-driven drama, and how “Freaky (Just My Type)” offers a human vocal touch amid the barrage. The tone is celebratory and analytical, insisting the album's high tempo is a kind of poetry, offering tenacity and resilience as much as catharsis.
Key Points
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The best song(s) crystallise Sherelle's fusion of jungle, footwork and rave euphoria, especially "XTC" for its euphoric vocal warble.
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The album's core strengths are relentless high tempo, sophisticated cross-continental production, and a socially minded energy of resilience.