Depeche Mode - Delta Machine

Depeche Mode

Delta Machine

(Columbia)

March 22, 2013

Grade: B+

There’s something to be said about longevity. In a decade where pretty much everyone is staging a “comeback” album of sorts, Depeche Mode are one of the few who can honestly say, “don’t call it a comeback”. They’ve been churning out albums at a relatively stable pace every few years, evolving their sound ever so slightly with each album, while still keeping their trademark sound of seductive, synth-flavored, industrial pop. But you don’t exists as long as a group like Depeche Mode and not have one album that’s remembered fondly as the band’s best moment. And for Depeche Mode, perhaps no album is more iconic than 1990’s Violator. So when the trio announced that Delta Machine would invoke that familiar ambient, goth-wave sound from the album that spawned “Personal Jesus”, and “Enjoy The Silence” , the anticipation was certainly warranted.

Right out of the gate Depeche Mode deliver the goods and live up to all that warranted hype.  Album opener “Welcome To My World” sucks the listener right in with hypno swells, and an eerie,icy, techno. While they’re intent on invoking that same brooding sound from Violator, they go about in a way that’s much less predictable. Whereas Violator created ambience with it’s excess, Delta Machine feels like a much more subdued affair by comparison. The synth melodies are subtle woven in with spacy, organic instrumentation; from a xylophone accompaniment on “Secret To The End” , to the jazzy, ballroom swing in “Heaven”. The songs are arranged like empty canvases to be filled with layers of sound, synths, bells, whistles, glitches, pops, and whatever else the band felt like bringing in. In lesser hands, you’d have an unbalanced cacophony, but Depeche Mode are something of experts at this by now.

Not all of the experiments work so well though. While the songs near the beginning of the album rang from amazing to good,  the album dips into some unforgivable filler territory. “My Little Universe” sounds too cluttered with glitch effects, poorly convinced EDM musings, and a dull vocal performance.  “The Child Inside” sounds like it wouldn't be out of place on a Dave Gahan solo album, but a cocktail lounge-esque crooner just sounds out of place here. “Slow”, as the name suggest, is mind-numbingly slow and devoid of anything interesting. And “Broken” suffers from a chorus that reeks of phoned in. The album manages to get better again in time for the last four songs (“Alone” being perhaps the best of the lot), but it never really regains the momentum it had going in.

Delta Machine , minus an unforgivably bland middle,  is a good album that starts strong and ends strong. The clunkers detract from the replayability value, but on those strong moments, Depeche Mode mange to take us back to the familiar sounds of their heyday that we thought we knew so well , and open a brand new door right through them. 33 years and 13 albums later and the fact that this band can still surprise is the real surprise.

Best Tracks: "Welcome To My World" , "Angel" , "Heaven" , "Alone"