The Berkeley Beacon

Issue date: 10/20/05 Section: Arts and Entertainment

Media Credit: www.google.com

On "The Darkest Star," a track from Depeche Mode's latest album, Playing the Angel, released this past Tuesday, singer Dave Gahan addresses an "eternal outsider." "Star" is about a specific loved one, but the lyric reaches out to the majority of the band's fanbase. These devoted listeners have followed Depeche Mode and shared its gloomy outlook on life, set to synthesizers, for almost 25 years.

Recently, Depeche Mode seemed to have fallen off the path with 2001's Exciter, a sparsely orchestrated and ultimately underwhelming effort. The world has changed substantially during the group's four-year hiatus, and the new music reflects this. The result is a dark and brooding work, the best Depeche Mode album in at least a decade.

The band initially exploded in 1981 with the upbeat track "Just Can't Get Enough," but in later albums explored a darker sound with gothic themes that remain today. The later hits, including "Never Let Me Down Again" and "Personal Jesus" were downhearted odes set to booming hooks.

Angel's opener, "A Pain That I'm Used To," is another exemplary entry in that category. It begins with a deafening howl reminiscent of Nine Inch Nails and keeps the industrial tone throughout the track. It is anchored, however, by a tight dance beat and maintains the appropriate balance between distortion and catchiness.

The song is immediately trumped by "John the Revelator," a twist on an old blues tune. Depeche updates the track with some blistering synth courtesy of keyboardist Andy Fletcher, but keeps it grounded with a gospel chorus and the thumping delta stomp. Each of these elements is introduced gradually, leading the song into an eardrum-shattering crescendo.

One of the few mistakes made with Angel was not releasing "John" as the first single, instead choosing the lackluster "Precious." But, the lyrical content of "John" might have turned some listeners off. Gahan calls out the titular false prophet that "by claiming God as his only rock / He's stealing a god from the Muslim, too / there is only one god through and through." Despite an earlier single from the 1984 album Some Great Reward about a vengeful Lord called "Blasphemous Rumours," conquering problems with drug addictions led the band to bring its renewed spirituality into the limelight. The result on Angel is "The Sinner in Me," a penitent look at its narrator's wrongdoings.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools