Artist: Depeche Mode
Label: Mute Records
Release: 2005
Rating: 3.5/5
“Playing The Angel”, their 11th studio album in a row, proves that Depeche Mode have grown up and left the toys they were building sandcastles with twenty years ago far behind. It’s incredible how much has grown, how naturally relevant the band sounds, and how lush and rich the soundscape is. The old anthemic quality they once used to fill stadiums has been replaced by the art of building atmospheric, towering moods, soaked in the sincerity of deep emotion. Dave Gahan’s vocals get more charming with every passing year. For the new album Depeche Mode tuned their production down a notch, so the harmonies are poured from even more dazzling color collages that build the delicate jigsaw of their signature sounds, dressed up with masterful sound samples at every turn, which are simply a constant of Depeche Mode perfection and really the standard the band is expected to deliver. From here on, there’s hardly any need to review the album at all.
Industrial crackling kicks off A Pain That I’m Used To and might make you think of Nine Inch Nails for a moment, but things quickly fall into place, especially once the chorus hits. The song rolls nicely from “industrial” noise to “techno”-rounded “beats”, with guitar touches in the vein of Songs Of Faith And Deviotion. Coming out of the instrumental middle section, the chosen motif definitely brushes up quickly against Enjoy The Silence from the album “Violator”. Nothing’s Impossible is a similar temptation, standing out with the tried-and-tested trick of a pronounced guitar line backed by the coherence of “industrial” synthesizing. John The Revelator openly mocks self-proclaimed preachers through its lyrics. Gahan is aggressive on vocals here, and the analog “synthesizers” announce the old “eighties” tricks with a Master Of Servant “feel”, masterfully surrounded by “black” gospel-style inserts in the chorus, à la Condemnation. With a bit of “touching up”, John The Relevator could easily have been Pleasure, Little Treasure from the album “Music For The Masses”. Precious, meanwhile, proves that the old cats simply master the art of writing catchy hits that can still be fresh and uniquely theirs. That’s Depeche Mode. A band that can still, after 25 years, write a song that’s a candidate for a true “evergreen” (hit level on par with Enjoy The Silence), perfect for spinning in the CD player in any mood. Suffer Well carries a simple “beat” that slides right into your ears and lays the groundwork for yet another potential hit. More analog synthesizing comes back with The Sinner in Me, where Depeche Mode once again convince with their one-of-a-kind way of stringing together dark feelings of anguish and longing. Macro is also a deeply atmospheric song. Gore’s special effect on it contributes to the song’s extremely gloomy mood. Introspectre and Damaged People keep that brooding darkness going beautifully, and Gore on vocals manages to bring to life an icy, chilling touch of the soul’s suffering, or really everything beneath the surface that’s usually hidden from the eye. Lillian is a song with more flirting with classic “dance” rhythms again, and the album closes with an atypical move. The deep balladic lament The Darkest Star is truly the darkest star in every sense of the word.
“Playing the Angel” is an incredibly mature and deep album. At the same time, it’s remarkable to look back at the band’s sound in the eighties and see how it has grown over all the years since, and how the interpretation has become, if I may borrow a word in the progressive sense, much more subtle and sophisticatedly refined. Deeply personal messages, effortlessly brought to life. Fragile and naive tenderness, innocent vulnerability, longing, passion, anger, pain, sadness. In short, this is an album that doesn’t chase the glitter of the band’s former glory, that steers clear of ill-chosen musical adventures, and that simply personifies the current mature pulse of a trio that left its electronic-punk years behind long ago. Pop intellect that lives convincingly through its songs, with an appeal and charm you can hardly resist.
Lineup
Dave Gahan – vocals
Martin Gore – keyboards, vocals, guitar
Andy Fletcher – keyboards
Production
Ben Hillier
Tracklist
1. A Pain That I’m Used To
2. John The Revelator
3. Suffer Well
4. The Sinner In Me
5. Precious
6. Macro
7. I Want It All
8. Nothing’s Impossible
9. Introspectre
10. Damaged People
11. Lilian
12. The Darkest Star
