Depeche Mode

"Sounds of The Universe" (Album, 2009)

Mute

The Mode's 12th studio album is an album of two halves. One half contains some of their best writing in more than a decade, the other half sees them (unconsciously or otherwise) on cruise control - again! Only those 'halves' are mixed together throughout the entire album. Good job then the days of linear vinyl listening are behind us, because if you take the trouble to program out the weaker entries there's a terrific Mode album in this bloated bunch struggling to be considered on its own relatively impressive terms.

Juicy, fat, old analogue synths are one of the albums most immediate and welcome features (Gore confesses to rabidly spending some of his royalties on buying up museum-worthy kit on eBay). Ironic then that this is certainly one of their most progressive developments really given that many will see this as merely a fashionable, retrograde step back to the start of the 1980s and their very first releases. There is some indulgent dabbling like the intro to opener In Chains, which is fun stuff, but it hardly adds anything to the song itself which otherwise doesn't rely on the retro generated sounds.

(Presumably to keep him playing ball) Gahan gets to pen three songs this time around (with help from Christian Eigner). Come Back in particular gets irritating before it ends. (Worringly Gahan has said that this is his favourite track on the entire album.) But the bigger faults lay more with main songwriter Martin Gore and his increasingly self-referential, even predictable writing. Once again we get lyrics, music even song titles that each sound like half a dozen other Gore penned catalogue entries. I can't even sit through Jezebel not because it's so bad (it isn't per se) its just so irritatingly familiar - like someone has used a 'composition by numbers' computer program that uses complex algorithms to reproduce a typical 'Martin Gore song'. Gore said he had fifteen songs he thought worthy of inclusion, finding the thirteen they've gone with a difficult choice. For my money, they could have easily lost four or five tracks, what's more, the finished album would have been better too.

Thankfully, it's not all substandard. There are some gems on Sounds of The Universe, and there's a decent number of them too: Wrong, Fragile Tension, Peace, Perfect, and Miles Away/The Truth Is (the latter penned by Gahan, Christian Eigner and Andrew Philpott) and they're all of a kind too. If the whole album had stuck with this style then it could have been essential listening for all. Program that lot in sequence and you'll hear Depeche Mode getting closer to their Music For The Masses, Violator and Walking In My Shoes era creativity. Someone may have spiked my milk, but I can definitely hear The Beatles in moments of Peace, whilst Gahan's vocals on Perfect seem, very oddly, to be channelling The Monkees through some strange Fad Gadget Lady Shave timewarp synthesizer filter.

In Sympathy sounds like a leftover from last album, 2005's Playing The Angel. Perfectly adequate but typical of Gore when he's struggling to develop as a songwriter. On balance then, there are enough solid, even exciting songs to make it foolish to write off Depeche Mode as a worthwhile creative force yet. Wrong was a daring choice for first single from the album but well-chosen to standout with its restricted musical and lyrical palette (aided immeasurably by a creepy Radiohead-ish video that won't be easily forgotten). The similarly minimal Peace for me is perhaps the pinnacle of the album. Interesting, as my wife, a seriously hardcore DM fan of many years, thinks it is the weakest. Go figure. True to form though, this latest long player is definitely another grower that improves with repeated airings.

Whilst a decent rating is deserved, there's too much that just isn't memorable enough to push this into the premier league. Nevertheless, Sounds of The Universe is an improvement over the last two albums for sure; and those who haven't bothered buying either of those who opted to pick it up could be pleasantly surprised. 7/10

Released in several versions. The Special Edition CD comes with a second (DVD) disc which contains 10 minutes of 'making-of' interviews with all three band members, three typically 'take 'em or leave 'em' remixes plus the promo video for Wrong. There's also a OTT fanboy box set retailing for around Ł60 that chucks in a couple of books by long time visual collaborator Anton Corbijn , a 1 hour 45 minute film of the band, 1 remix CD, 1 earlier demos CD and 1 extra tracks CD, plus the usual pointless collectables like a poster, badges, 'art cards', etc, etc. all in a huge, vinyl album sized grey box.

Rob Dyer (June 2009)