2 April 2023 – album review by DAMIEN
Believe it or not, up until very recently, I hadn’t listened to a lot of Depeche Mode. Sure, I had heard, ‘I Just Can’t Get Enough’…and hated it, and, largely thanks to Marilyn Manson, had been introduced to ‘Personal Jesus’…and loved it.
But that was it.
I wasn’t until about 18 months ago, when someone came up to me after one of my shows and said, ‘Do you know who you sound a lot like? Depeche Mode!’, that I began to take more interest.
Had this been the only time someone had made that comparison I probably would have ignored it. But, it happened again. And again. All from different people, until one day a friend messaged me to say they had heard a new Depeche Mode song on the radio, and thought it was me.
At that point, I knew I had to give them a listen, and boy did I have some catching up to do.
For the uninitiated, Depeche Mode’s existence stretches back to 1980. Since then, the British Synthpop/Darkwave act have had 13 different band members, won countless awards (including a Grammy), sadly had to endure the death of founding member, Andy Fletcher (2022), and amassed 15 albums, including their most recent Memento Mori. They were also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020.
Arguably one of the band’s greatest strength is their consistency.
Perhaps a more impassioned devotee may hear very clear distinctions between each of their studio albums, but for me, the differences in feel between their 1980’s releases to the present days releases is negligible at best, meaning that if you enjoy some of Depeche Mode, you will probably enjoy most of Depeche Mode.
Memento Mori is a very true reflection of the band’s signature style: clean, clear, melancholy vocals delivered through a field of synthesizers and drum machines. The beauty of which is the juxtaposition between the humanity of the voice and lyric in contrast to the cold, empty and mechanical electronic elements.
The album starts boldly and harshly with a huge, distorted drum beat that fully encompasses the dystopian despair that darkwave music often entails. And even though the familiar and haunting voice of David Gahan brings a human touch to the opening track, ‘My Cosmos is Mine’, the near drone-like qualities of the melody only increase the feelings of cold loneliness brought on by the electronics.
The following song, ‘Wagging Tongue’, carries much of the band’s earlier sounds and, for me, it sits neatly on the fence of sounding either somewhat dated or refreshingly retro. The overall vibe of the track feels more hopeful than the opener, and this mood is carried into the next song, ‘Ghosts Again’, which has quite a bouncy energy to it and reminds me loosely of Sia’s ‘Clap Your Hands’.
As we move deeper into the album, we hit one of the most striking lyrics for me in the entire album: “You be the killer, I’ll be the corpse”, moans Gahan’s voice in the anti-love song ‘Don’t Say You Love Me’.
The existential emptiness and heartache is wide open now, and is only tormented further, in the most magnificent of ways, with songs like ‘My Favourite Stranger’, ‘Soul With Me’ and ‘Caroline’s Monkey’, which contains another one of those lines that just sits with me: “There’s no satisfaction on Caroline’s train”.
Track 8, ‘Before We Drown’ is definitely a standout, and also has one of the greatest soundscapes of the record. This definitely requires listening through good headphones to really appreciate how well the sonic space has been utilised.
“Keep fooling yourself, people are good”. Another potent line that, this time, strikes at the heart of the fear most of have that perhaps we, as a species, are not just alone in the universe, but are ultimately fucked by own destructive nature. This marks the end of 9th song, moving the album closer towards its end.
But, the best is still to come. After the dark and steady march of ‘Always You’, The album’s crux comes with the post-punk beats and riffs of ‘Never Let Me Go’. For me this is the pinnacle song of this album and highlights everything that is to like about Depeche Mode.
The final track then closes the curtain and does so in a way that bookends from the opener, ending the record with a similar slow, drone-like melancholy in which it began.
Lyrically this album truly is a masterpiece. The imagery created through the use of both word and melody is just gorgeous and it will likely take me multiple listens to truly appreciate how profound the song craft is.
Whilst Depeche Mode, and darkwave music in general, are niche in their appeal, I for one am certainly honoured to have been compared to such a thought provoking, stirring and enduring act, and look forward to spinning Memento Mori endlessly over the coming weeks.
