Depeche Mode are a band who’ve existed at extremes. On their journey from squeaky-clean popsters to different titans they’ve lived a quick, onerous life. Lead singer Dave Gahan’s brushes with loss of life are notorious, together with a drug-induced episode in 1996 the place his coronary heart stopped beating for 2 minutes. Equally dramatic has been their inventive timeline too: members like Vince Clarke and Alan Wilder departed at inopportune moments, and artistic pressure has sometimes simmered between Gahan and fellow co-founder Martin Gore. You possibly can’t make an omelette the dimensions that The ‘Mode have with out breaking just a few eggs, in any case.
Besides, the loss of life of keyboardist Andy Fletcher, aged 60, final yr proved gutting. Alongside Gahan and Gore, he was a founding member and performed a vital function in tempering egos and stored the ship crusing. Talking to NME, Gahan stated: “Fletch was going to survive all of us” and that now that he’s gone “it nonetheless doesn’t really feel actual.” The band had been uncertain whether or not they must press on with recording ‘Memento Mori’, their fifteenth document and first in six years. But the lack of Fletch would convey Gore and Gahan nearer collectively.
‘Memento Mori’ – which interprets from Latin as ‘bear in mind it’s essential to die’ – is knowledgeable by loss, but in addition salvation and resurgence. Following the troubled periods of their final album ‘Spirit’ (2017), and the dynamic that’s seen Gore tackle lead songwriting duties and Gahan to often really feel creatively stunted, there’s a renewed vitality to collaborate and encourage right here. Incorporating producer James Ford [Arctic Monkeys, Shame] into proceedings, alongside The Psychedelic Furs’ Richard Butler and co-producer Marta Salogni [Bjork, Frank Ocean], the skeleton crew that recorded the album following Fletch’s passing is a decent and potent one.
The delicate, understated tempo of ‘Ghosts Once more’ is the sound of two compadres, sure by historical past to maintain shifting ahead, even when the nihilism shines by means of: “Time is fleeting / See what it brings”, Gahan sighs. Likewise, on the Gahan-penned ‘Wagging Tongue’ a spritely synth line is undermined by tales from “the nice divide” and being compelled to “watch one other angel die”. They’re virtually cloyingly obsessive about the subject, however Gore’s beautiful supply on ‘Soul With Me’, a ballad that shares the identical aurora and chords as fashionable R&B, is phenomenal: “I’m prepared for the ultimate pages / Kiss goodbye to all my earthly cages / I’m climbing up the golden stairs”.
There are all the time issues that ‘legacy’ acts of this stature play it secure, exploiting their cultural footprint to flog tickets and reissues – not the case right here. ‘Memento Mori’ truly poses considerably of a hurdle to beat as Depeche Mode kick off their huge world tour this summer season: when the songs are this sturdy, what number of classics can they reduce out to do these new ones justice? ‘Folks Are Good’ has an iron-clad case, its stadium-shaking bass and beats prepared to carry its place subsequent to 1990 hit ‘Take pleasure in The Silence’; ‘Earlier than We Drown’s chugging industrial really feel piles on the ‘By no means Let Me Down’-sized theatrics.
To have an album of this high quality after what the band have been by means of could appear miraculous, however Depeche Mode have all the time turned turmoil, pressure and life’s darker moments into magic. ‘Memento Mori’ is comfortably their finest album this facet of the millennium, and, most significantly, a testomony to creativity and friendship. The music world is richer for it.
Particulars
- Launch date: March 24, 2023
- File label: Columbia
