I'm a 27 year old from Liverpool who's new here. Rate my reviews and if you like what I write then ...
I'm a 27 year old from Liverpool who's new here. Rate my reviews and if you like what I write then add me to your circle!
Member since:26.04.2007
Reviews:3
I have loved Depeche Mode for about 14 years now, and every time I hear a new Depeche Mode album for the first time, my love for the band is brought into question.
The first time I heard Playing The Angel, it sounded like nothing I had been expecting and came as a total shock compared to the scaled down production evident on their previous two albums, Exciter and Ultra.
Sticking with it, I listened to the album all the way through 2 or 3 times and slowly came round to it's heavy, more industrial sound, and it's distorted beats and dark lyrics. I now consider this album to be up there with previous highlights like Violator and Songs of Faith and Devotion.
This album benefits from the alleged competition between Martin Gore and Dave Gahan, what with Dave taking some of the songwriting duties for the first time on a Depeche Mode album, and his 3 tracks (Suffer Well, I Want It All and Nothing's Impossible) are up there with the better Martin Gore tracks (Precious, John the Revelator, The Darkest Star).
Album opens with Gore penned "A Pain That I'm Used To" containing probably the loudest introduction i've heard on an album in a long time, which samples The Dead of Night from Exciter. An excellent driving beat and a good choice for second single.
Next is "John The Revelator," again by Gore, and is an instant classic within which you can't help feeling George W. Bush is getting his wrists slapped in some way.
"Suffer Well" is the first Gahan track of the album and is a standout for me. Pure joy from start to finish, and surely a great sign of things to come for the future of the band.
"Sinner in Me" is a Gore classic. Dark lyrics and a driving beat that builds to an amazing crescendo at the end.
"Precious" is the obvious first single of the album with a classic synthesizer melody and beutiful lyrics about Martin Gore's divorce. Seems strangely out of place on the dark album, however. Instant classic, though.
"Macro" is the first Gore sung track, and is very sparse, yet after a few listens is right up there with the likes of Home and Question of Lust.
"I Want it All" and "Nothing's Impossible" are the final of the Gahan tracks and whilst not as good as Suffer Well are both instantly Depeche Mode, with Nothing's Impossible benefitting from distorted vocals and a dark driving beat.
"Introspectre" is a typical Depeche instrumental which carries on to "Damaged People," again sung by Gore, and could be described as It Doesn't Matter 3. Pretty standard stuff (although it takes on a hidden melancholy when performed in a live setting.
"Lilian" is John the Revelator's twin on the album, and builds to "The Darkest Star" which closes the album off incredibly darkly, but with a small glimmer that hope is on the horizon.
All in all an excellent album, with a very dark theme, reminding the fans that after 25 years in the business, Depeche Mode still know how to remain relevant and renewed within today's music scene.
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Arguably the only credible surviving stars of synthpop, the Mode return with their ... more
eleventh album and follow-up to 2001's 'Exciter'. Recorded with producer Ben Hillier (Doves, Blur) and marking a return to form with a fresh, revitalized update of the b...
Advantages: More memorable songs than any other Depeche Mode album since Violator Disadvantages: Would have been improved by dropping one or two weaker tracks
Advantages: More memorable songs than any other Depeche Mode album since Violator Disadvantages: Would have been improved by dropping one or two weaker tracks
Advantages: Familar Depeche stylings, good production, respectable DVD extras Disadvantages: Not breaking new ground, some songs over familiar and borderline good
Apr 26th, 2007
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