Album Review: Depeche Mode - Delta Machine

Depeche Mode
Delta Machine
Rating: Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It

Delta Machine, the 13th album from synthpop stalwarts Depeche Mode, made me have to reassess how I feel about the band. Since the departure of Alan Wilder after Songs of Faith and Devotion, I was still listening to the band as if they were still the same act, when in fact, like R.E.M. post Bill Berry, they have been a completely different entity altogether. Wilder was definitely the member of the band whose experimenting took the band to the next level, but whose work was kept reigned in from being too out there by Martin Gore's pop instincts. Wilder and Gore's partnership sustained the band over an amazing course of releases, but absent Wilder, Depeche Mode feel into a bit of a rut. From Ultra on to Songs of the Universe, Depeche Mode seemed to be in a holding pattern, and in fact following a pattern where their albums were barely distinguishable from each other. Upon the first few listens to Delta Machine, this belief was hardly challenged. Most of the tracks barely have a danceable pulse, there is the requisite bluesy guitar track, the one Martin Gore ballad, and a somewhat overall feeling of lethargy. But somewhere over the time I was listening to the record, I finally had to just give up the hope that they would return to the Wilder halcyon days and just accept that they are really a different band now, and evaluate it on those terms. Without that cloud hanging over my impression of the record, I was able to enjoy it more.

This new Depeche Mode is far more about mood and atmosphere than dance tracks, and the album highlights are always the tracks that focus on this. Despite the relative lack of movement on their tracks, Depeche Mode's last few records have always sounded great, and the production values on Delta Machine are no exception. And once you get over the fact that there will not be any songs that will get your feet moving, you can focus on what the band has now become. The tracks that stick out for me are the brooding, industrial tinged songs that are all about darkness and tension. "Alone" is one of their most haunting tracks, all moody keyboards and atmospheric effects, with Gahan finally singing for once, without his usual over-the-top operatics.



"My Little Universe" works off a minimal palate of blooping and blurping electronics, building over the course of the track with ominously dark washes of noise.



The intense "Secret to the End" is a throbbing menace of bleak keyboards and thumping percussion.



Over the past couple of records, Dave Gahan's voice was starting to show the wear and tear of his years and past drug addictions, sounding weak and not very enthusiastic. Here, he seems to have gotten some more life back into his singing, and there are countless moments on Delta Machine where he sounds the best he has in years. On "Should Be Higher" Gahan's emotions pour out in the most honest and open vocal performance of his career,



and on first single, the brooding ballad "Heaven," Gahan's rich baritone eaves it way through the gilded piano chords and mournful nature of the track.



The issues I have with the record still are the fact that Gore seems to think he is a guitar player, and it is the tracks that are guitar-centric that are the least effective. The requisite bluesy guitar track "Slow" is Gore-by-numbers that sounds exactly like you think it will sound. "Soothe My Soul," which starts promisingly with a buzzy throb, ends up being this record's "Personal Jesus" with its similar guitar chords, which is then continued with the bland guitar stomp of closer "Goodbye."

But overall, this is one of their strongest post-Wilder records. It is just difficult to examine this band out of his shadow, always wanting that same restless ingenuity that he brought to their sound. But, if you can somehow forget that he was such an integral part to the band, you will likely end up enjoying this record. There are some really great tracks on the record, and it never sounds less than pristine. Can we ever expect more from Depeche Mode going forward? Most likely not, but I guess at this point we have to accept them for what they are and evaluate it from that perspective.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and piques one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.