Depeche Mode - Exciter Reviews
Only a lifetime achievement award would be more of a death knell for a band's creativity than a greatest-hits compilation. When Depeche Mode released "The Singles 86>98," it was more than a reminder of the band's glory days, when songs like "Enjoy the Silence" and "Policy of Truth" topped the charts and gave the new "alternative" movement a dark, electronic underbelly. It also posed the question: Was the band finished? Could a group that rose to prominence with songs detailing sexual anxieties and spiritual dysfunction, fueled by nearly suicidal drug addictions, make vital music as its members approached 40, all sobered up and enjoying the comforts of 50 million records sold?
Depeche Mode has silenced the questions with "Exciter," the band's first studio album since '97. At this year's Winter Music Conference, an annual week-long marathon of cutting-edge club parties in Miami, the biggest night belonged to New York house music jock Danny Tenaglia. His set lasted 16 hours, and one of the more memorable moments came at around 7 in the morning. "This is the new Depeche Mode remix I'm working on," Tenaglia's LED message board told the crowd, as Depeche Mode singer David Gahan's Gothic voice echoed through the humid darkness. More than a month before the band's proper first single, "Dream On," would debut, Tenaglia premiered the yearning, love-is-torture chorus of "I Feel Loved." Several thousand clubbers -- many of whom were toddlers when the group released its first album in 1981 -- stood in rapt attention, too engrossed for a moment to dance. But only for a moment. Once the house beat kicked in, it was business as usual on the dance floor.
It was good to hear Depeche Mode sounding so relevant to the club scene, particularly because it's a scene spawned at least in part by the band's electronic vision of music. With the echoes of the synthetic '80s rife in the club and pop spectrums, Depeche Mode is checking back in at the perfect time.
Although it has other muscle moments, "Exciter" is subdued compared with the band's past work. Keyboardist Alan Wilder left the group in 1995, and Depeche Mode has used various producers to fill his shoes in the studio. Mark Bell, one half of British techno pioneers LFO and the producer behind Bjork's last two records, takes the helm on "Exciter" and steers the band toward a more minimal sound. "Dream On" is nothing more than an electronic crackle and a guitar chord, and Gahan's insistent baritone making the most of songwriter Martin Gore's somewhat clichéd, ever-autobiographical lyrics. "Paying debt to karma, you party for a living / What you take won't kill you, but careful what you're giving."
Gahan, showcased all the more by the slight production, sounds better than ever. His voice barely cracks a whisper on the album's two best songs. "I'm just an angel, driving blindly through this world / I'm just a slave here at the mercy of a girl," he murmurs, as pretty piano melodies soar above a rumbling bass drum and a canvas of strings. On "Goodnight Lovers," it's more of the same melancholic bliss: "When you're born a lover, you're born to suffer," Gahan offers above a delicate keyboard loop and chimes. Much like U2 on its last album, Depeche Mode has gracefully transitioned to middle age with "Exciter," trading in the cache of self-righteous angst for the glowing warmth of quiet desperation. It sounds like another "Singles" compilation is yet forthcoming.
Los Angeles Times:
**1/2 stars out of **** stars
During the 80's, Depeche Mode sounded flat and soulless, even within the frigid parameters of the New Romantic school. In the 90's the British group embraced a pseudo-metaphysical darkness, and it's soundscapes became lush and cinematic. All along, one thing was sure: This was a band not meant to be taken too seriously.
Still, Depeche had one asset that should not be underestimated: songwriter Martin Gore's ability to churn out captivating hooks that made such songs as "Everything Counts" and "Enjoy the Silence" guilty pop pleasures. Depeche Mode was above all, a great singles group. The pretty melodies and campy fun have been tossed out the window on the bands 10th full-length release(In stores Tuesday), which finds the trio in a decidedly abstract mood. From the achingly venerable vocals of the semi-acoustic "Dream On" to the meditative guitar lines of "Breathe", "Exciter" is all about texture, contemplation and maturity. Hard-core Depeche fans will probably embrace this new state of affairs, considering the albums polished, atmospheric feel. Others will look nostalgically to the cheap thrills of the past, when Depeche Mode was content just making disposable pop. - Ernesto Lechner
Wall of Sound (www.wallofsound.com ):
Depeche Mode's first new album in four years is unlikely to alter your opinion of the band, be it positive or negative. Opening with the seductively sinister Goth-disco strains of "Dream On," the album winds its way through 13 songs that sound uncannily like … latter period Depeche Mode. Having long ago left behind its perky synth-pop roots in favor of more textured, atmospheric fare, the band seems to have settled comfortably into middle age (albeit a middle age that's still firmly in touch with its inner teen angst).
In spite of the name, there's nothing on Exciter that's tremendously exciting - nothing as rousing or titillating as DM classics like "Master and Servant" or "Personal Jesus"; nothing quite as direct and personal as black-clad tearjerkers like "Blasphemous Rumours" or "Somebody." Which isn't to say that the album is bad. It's just, well, it's just another Depeche Mode album - a solid near-hour's worth of moody, darkly insidious tunes about such time-honored topics as love, death, and pain … and love and death.
While it might not break new ground, Exciter does offer a handful of standout tracks that should fit in nicely on the next DM singles collection (let's face it - whether you like it or not, the band will probably be around for at least another decade or three). "Dream On" is Depeche Mode doing what it does best - turning death, addiction, and other such happy subjects into danceable fare. "When the Body Speaks" is a tender love song that brings to mind U2's "With or Without You," and "The Dead of Night" is a raunchy little romp; a dance hit for the suburban undead.
Given the band's tumultuous recent history (departure of original member Alan Wilder; singer David Gahan's heroin addiction, overdose, and recovery) it's actually remarkable that Depeche Mode has delivered an album this solid. It's hard to listen to the chorus of "Shine" ("You've been hanging by a rope of mediocrity/ Strung out by your insecurity") without wondering if lyricist Martin Gore didn't write that for Gahan. He continues, "You can shine for me/ Somebody has to shine for me."
Indeed, that's Depeche Mode's secret and the reason for its remarkable appeal and staying power. Despite the gloomy overtones, the group members consistently find the beauty lurking beneath the pain - and end up shining. Either you understand that or you don't. Rating: 69 out of 100 - Barbara Mitchell
Dot Music (www.dotmusic.com):
Dave Gahan may have put his attempted suicide and well-documented drug problems behind him with Depeche Mode's 1997 album 'Ultra', but he still inhabits a bleak, largely hope-free world thanks to band mate Martin L Gore's songs.
"...a shadowy, stark, gothic blend of synths and guitars, urban blues and eerie soundtracks" Not that we'd have it any other way. Four years on, the Mode's tenth studio album in twenty years finds them wallowing once again in melancholy, yearning and the pleasures of the flesh, this shadowy, stark, gothic blend of synths and guitars, urban blues and eerie soundtracks proving compelling if occasionally unsettling listening.
Blessed typically with meaty polished production, 'Exciter' is spattered with lyrical references to "the fever coming", "hanging from a rope of mediocrity", "a sad disease creeping through my mind" and "the dark night of my soul". In a way exploring the same inward looking themes as The The's Matt Johnson, this would sit nicely between Radiohead's 'Kid A' and Massive Attack's 'Mezzanine'. Yes it's that cheery.
Most of the tracks here are downtempo numbers like recent single 'Dream On', the chilling strings of 'When The Body Speaks', the reflective, beautiful ballad 'Freelove' -with the refrain "no hidden catch, no strings attached, just free love"- or 'Breathe' with it's 'Heard It Through The Grapevine' type subject matter and Gahan (in fine vocal fettle throughout) going a bit Marc Almond-does-Scott Walker camp.
On the upbeat side we have the slowed down Glitter Band style raunchy stomp of 'The Dead Of Night' and the fantasic, crunchy piledriver of a forthcoming single 'I Feel Loved' - part New Order, part spooky sci-fi soundtrack.
But it's closing track 'Goodnight Lovers' which proves the album's finest moment. The optimistic light at the end of a very long, very dark tunnel, it's almost a devotional hymn, gospelly harmonies backing Gahan's impressively tender, soulful vocal performance. A truly moving finale to an emotionally exhausting, sometimes excellent album. Rating 3.5 out of 5.0 - Gary Crossing
US Magazine (www.usmagazine.com):
After their debut in 1981, Depeche Mode quickly became the poster boys for wistful electro-pop. In the decades since, as rock & roll excess took it's toll, the band proved surprisingly resilient. On their tenth studio album, they have undergone a spiritual rejuvenation. Their 90's industrial drone has been softened, and not since it's 80's heyday has Depeche sounded so pretty. -Sarah Pratt
3 out of 4 stars (Subdued synth pop, a la Mode)
The Onion (www.theonion.com):
As much a victim as a beneficiary of '80s nostalgia, Depeche Mode may never live down its Eurotrash synth-pop image, even as its music grows in scope and sophistication. Now two decades into a surprisingly consistent career, the band still attracts the kind of snide criticism often levied against novelty acts, despite its clear-cut status as an influential electronic-music pioneer. Even though Depeche Mode didn't get much credit, let alone respect for its place in the pantheon, the group weathered on throughout the '90s, surmounting lineup changes and personal problems with impressive dedication and savvy decisions. When it comes to making records, Depeche Mode doesn't appear eager to reinvent itself, but it has kept itself fresh and fashionable by making smart choices in collaborators. Following a few albums with Flood and a disc with Tim Simenon of Bomb The Bass, Depeche Mode turned to Mark Bell--formerly of techno trendsetter LFO, and most recently Björk's producer of choice--for the new Exciter. The choice works well, as Bell's subtle, inventive knob-twiddling pairs perfectly with Martin Gore's new batch of somber, subdued songs. Gore's guitar has become more integral, lending songs like the first single, "Dream On," and "The Sweetest Condition" an organic base for Bell's muted and mutating beats. David Gahan croons like Bono would if Bono took himself half as seriously as some critics insist, and while Gore's lyrics often match the U2 singer's for sheer banality, his singing remains vital to Depeche Mode's sound. Gahan's weary voice buoys atmospheric dirges like "Shine," "Freelove," and "When The Body Speaks," while he helps "I Feel Loved" (one of the few up-tempo numbers) attain the techno-anthem status it deserves. In a sense, Exciter's thin, Goth-tinged songs mark a return to form for Depeche Mode, matching its gloomy '80s work minor chord for minor chord, while somehow still sounding firmly contemporary. That's all any long-running band can hope for: progress, but not at the expense of personality. --Joshua Klein
Rolling Stone (www.rollingstone.com):
Depeche Mode should be horribly burnt out or split up by now: They lost their initial songwriter, Vince Clarke, after their 1981 debut; their principal musician, Alan Wilder, after their eighth album; and their sanity in 1995, when singer Dave Gahan became a heroin addict and attempted suicide. It's easy to forget that these Essex, England, unlikelies have been around as long as R.E.M., U2 and Duran Duran. But unlike those titan troupers, they never made an embarrassing album (live discs aside) and never became so huge that they overstayed their welcome. Even at the peak of their late-1980s teeny-bopper popularity, these quintessential synth-poppers somehow remained punk. Lingering in gorgeously melodic, genuine sadness, Gahan, Martin Gore and Andrew Fletcher still have the knack for turning a lifelong bummer into one big black celebration.
But even old reliables have their ups and downs, and Depeche Mode's tenth studio album ranks miraculously high. Produced by Bjork collaborator Mark Bell, Exciter glimmers like a gentle ambient doodle with vocals: The beats are mostly minimal, closer to early Kraftwerk than to current electronica. But because Gore's songwriting is so focused and Gahan's vocal presence is so commanding, the softest songs leap to the foreground like a whisper from a lover. Although they integrate guitars and orchestrations with greater finesse, the skeletal arrangements leave Gahan no harmonic place to hide, no singalong choruses to coast. Lips pressed against the mike, the rehabbed frontman turns in his most physically intimate, emotionally masterful performances on unearthly ballads like "When the Body Speaks." Yet he also proves himself capable of summoning bygone sleaze on the album's hilariously sullied, sole industrial jam, "The Dead of Night." And on one of Gore's vocal cameos, "Breathe," his wounded choirboy tenor sounds grandly operatic in the Scott Walker lounge-troubadour tradition. Recent landmark albums by kindred spirits Radiohead and Moby may have rejuvenated their white machine soul, but the Modesters have never kowtowed to trends. Exciter isn't nearly as catchy as hit-packed discs like 1987's Music for the Masses. But from the breathless a cappella opening of "Dream On" to the closing strains of "Goodnight Lovers," Exciter maintains an otherworldly mood and purity of purpose that today's angst-ridden rockers would trade their Jeff Buckley CDs to attain.
Rating: *** ½ out of *****
E! (www.eonline.com):
When your frontman is currently best known for a raging drug problem and your last hit single was called "Barrel of a Gun," up is probably a good way to go. Still, when you're a black-clad, doom-laden, synth-pop group like Depeche Mode, you're expected to stew in a bit of misery. Here, the forever '80s giants strike a good chord of musically hopeful times that progress their cause and avoid sounding like a parody of their former selves (see: cheesy). Producer Mark Bell modernizes DM's sound by balancing the gloomy beats with eerie guitar play and an emphasis on frontman Dave Gahan's most confident vocals since rehab. And while some of the band's liveliest moments in recent memory appear on this disc (like the lead-off single "Dream On"), you should never write off the boys' knack for black celebrations. "It's a sad disease creeping through my mind," Gahan moans on "The Sweetest Condition." Gotta love those stubborn melancholy bastards. Grade: B+
USA Today (www.usatoday.com):
Depeche Mode, Exciter (***1/2 out of ****) If the name Depeche Mode evokes visions of men in black peddling synth-laden odes to doom and gloom, think again. Over the past decade, the pre-eminent techno-goth outfit of the '80s has been weaving warmer, more organic-sounding textures into its darkly dreamy sound. Exciter, its first studio outing in four years, is at once the earthiest and most futuristic song cycle the group has released yet, folding acoustic and electronic orchestration into gorgeous sonic landscapes. The graceful, pulsating Dream On may be the finest single that songwriter Martin Gore has crafted since 1990's Enjoy the Silence. The delicately soulful Freelove and Shine are lovelier still, showcasing Dave Gahan's most tender, confident singing to date. Luckily, not all bands stop growing when they reach the top of the charts. - Elysa Gardner
Release Magazine (www.releasemagazine.net):
Expectations on the new Depeche Mode album are colossal, must be the greatest understatement this year. And I can tell you this: Not everyone will be satisfied with what they hear on "Exciter". This is not an easy drama. Depeche Mode usually claims, like most bands do before the release of a new album, that this time, they have done something completely original and different from their earlier works. And usually the fans discover, with mixed feelings of relief and disappointment, that it's really not so. Well, this time it is. I would have to say, "Exciter" is rather different. - We've always made weird pop, and I think this is another great example. We don't fit in anywhere, but then we never have, so there's no particular worry, Martin Gore says. He shouldn't worry. After over twenty years and 40 million album copies, the two former Basildon church choir boys and the ex car thief, know perfectly well how to write alternative handcraft pop for the masses. And it's healthier and more relaxed than in a very long time."Exciter" has little in common with the previous album "Ultra". In comparison, the songs on "Ultra" sound strained and less spontaneous than any song on this album. On the other hand, I think "Exciter" has no monster hits like "Barrel of a Gun" or "It's No Good". But then again there are no puny songs either. The ups and downs are less perceptible and over all, "Exciter" is a better album to a great extent. Mark Bell, who previously worked with Björk on "Homogenic" and "Selmasongs", has produced "Exciter". According to Martin Gore, he is responsible for creating the rather un-Depeche Mode-ish atmosphere. Even though the album is somewhat different from the recent work, I get a feeling that the progress is leading back to the roots, just as much as it takes Depeche Mode to new heights. "I Am You" could smoothly fit old songs like "Something to Do" or "Blasphemous Rumours". "Exciter" is an emotional album that brings some of the best sides out from Depeche Mode. "Exciter" is also a slow album. Not one of the 13 songs are truly danceable, maybe with the exception of the forthcoming single "I Feel Loved". The lyrics follow the traditional approach from Martin Gore and deals with relations in a vague, desperate and masochistic manner. Of course, I would kill for another "A Question of Time" or "Enjoy the Silence", and I guess that is one of the few things I truly miss. But an album of this calibre does not really require that. Rating: 9/10 - ANDERS WIIK
NME (www.nme.com):
This is the album Depeche Mode seemed destined never to make. Their last two were recorded in the teeth of Dave Gahan's near-fatal drug addiction, with band relations strained to snapping point and their electronic agenda buried under a mudslide of riffs, resentment and rehab. But the U2 of synth-pop emerge from their blustery rock fixation renewed vitality here. Producer Mark Bell, of LFO and Björk repute, has coaxed a kind of electro-acoustic mix from the Mode which puts clear blue water between 'Exciter' and their most recent experiments in techno-grunge and Wagnerian trip-hop. The texture of tracks like 'Dream On' and 'Comatose' are high-tech yet organic, couching almost folkish guitar strumming in stomach-rumbling electronica. From this solid base, Gore's songwriting is free to veer off into diverse and occasionally sublime directions. Hence the cheekily titled pop trifle 'I Feel Loved', a blast of shameless disco hedonism with a side order of existential ennui. More impressive is the cinematic 'Easy Tiger', which throbs and whirrs with a post-rock John Barry feel that wouldn't feel out of place on 'Kid A'. But the most hilarious diversion here is goth-metal stomper 'The Dead Of Night', a rampaging Godzilla of sci-fi glam-rock which sounds like a Panzer division invading a Marilyn Manson gig.
Gahan's voice has never sounded this rich, and expressive. His usual stern histrionics have been largely replaced by tenderness and restraint, most notably on the string-kissed Bono-esque reverie 'When The Body Speaks' - described by Gore as "the Righteous Brothers playing next door to a rave" - and the serenade 'Shine'. But better still is beatific closing number 'Goodnight Lovers', where Dave purrs and whispers over a gliding ambient lullaby to "all soul sisters and soul brothers". This is the one to soften even hardened Mode-haters, a gorgeous moment of sensual healing.
As ever, Gore's lyrics address love as suffocating sickness, addiction as pleasure, sexual longing as psychosis - although the clammy cold turkey references in tumbling doom-waltz 'The Sweetest Condition' pack a special resonance in the wake of Gahan's chemical travails. Lyrical gloom aside, though, 'Exciter' sounds like a band not just revitalised but reassembled from scratch. Not many long-running groups could make an album this fresh and confident in their 20th year, never mind one which bridges timeless soulman crooning and underground techno. If we still need serious grown-up bands in these atomised, scrambled, pop-crazed times, then we still need Depeche Mode. Rating: 8/10 - Stephen Dalton
Pulse Magazine (pulse.towerrecords.com):
It seems impossible that anyone older (or at least more emotionally mature) than a 17-year-old has given a rat's ass about a new Depeche Mode album in more than 10 years. 1993's Songs of Faith and Devotion and 1997's Ultra were turgid, tuneless messes that shortchanged the catchy melodies and inventive arrangements that had previously masked the synth-pop pioneers' weaknesses: Dave Gahan's bombastic, off-key singing and Martin Gore's increasingly morose lyrics. By the mid-'90s, following Gahan's well-publicized suicide attempt and bouts with drug abuse, and the departure of keyboardist Alan Wilder, Depeche Mode's future-to say nothing of its relevance-was sorely in doubt. Yet in a reversal of fortune reminiscent of 1982's A Broken Frame (the band's first album after the departure of original principal songwriter Vince Clarke), Exciter rises to the seemingly insurmountable challenge of shoring up the group's waning strengths. Although many moments here favorably recall earlier DM classics, melodic hooks are, in general, de-emphasized in favor of Spartan sound beds-best exemplified by a pair of two-minute instrumentals, "Lovetheme" and "Easy Tiger"-that draw the listener closer. Rather than the umpteenth rehash of "Somebody," this album's obligatory Gore ballad, "Breathe," suggests an outtake from the Angelo Badalamenti songbook, offsetting his precious croon with weeping guitar licks that hint at the Southwest. "Goodnight Lovers" closes the album with soft, multitracked "oohs" and shimmering synthetic stardust; think "Leave in Silence," but minus the angst. But the big surprise on Exciter-created under the guidance of Björk cohort Mark Bell-is Gahan, who drops his aggravating mannerisms to turn in alarmingly sensitive performances. Hovering delicately over the line "I'm just an angel" on the quiet "When the Body Speaks," the singer sounds as though he might evaporate into the ether at any second. And by leaning ever so slightly into the couplet "No hidden catch/ No strings attached" on "Freelove," he discreetly illuminates the catchiest moment of the entire six-minute song. While the lyrics rarely stray from discussing the various states of emotional bondage that have long preoccupied Gore, when handled with a gentler touch they take on an air closer to poetic simplicity than crass banality. Exciter's only genuine clunker comes with "Dead of Night," an abrasive rocker that sounds like a rejected Nine Inch Nails demo, with Gahan tearing into bons mots like "We're the horniest boys/with the corniest ploys" with histrionic zeal almost as embarrassing as the words he's bellowing. But the record's successes easily outweigh its small failures; at least four of these songs are as fine as the band's best, and most of the rest reasonably approximate former glories. Twenty years after its first album hit stores, Depeche Mode has finally achieved something its critics never thought possible: Subtlety. Rating: *** 1/2 out of ***** -KURT B. REIGHLEY
Billboard Magazine (www.billboard.com):
Depeche Mode gets back on track with Exciter, full of the dark synthesizer riffs and foreboding vocals that first made the group a modern rock phenomenon in the '80s. The songs are diverse: the understated "When the Body Speaks" sounds like U2 as interpreted by This Mortal Coil, while the grinding "Dead of Night" is reminiscent of Nine Inch Nails. Two things hold the set together: Mark Bell's quirky, other-worldly production and Dave Gahan's still-haunting voice, which has never been more agile. Exciter isn't consistently satisfying, lacking the thematic coherence of 1986's Black Celebration or the melodic simplicity of 1990's Violator. But after a couple of less-than-stellar studio albums, fans who "Just Can't Get Enough" Depeche Mode will be happy to see the band taking a step in the right direction. Thanks to such standouts as the danceable "I Feel Loved" and the first single "Dream On," Exciter is the best Depeche Mode album in a decade.
Amazon.com (www.amazon.com):
One of Depeche Mode's greatest strengths is also their greatest weakness. The band comes up with some of pop music's most inventive lyrics, and at the same time, they always give the impression that they'll arbitrarily sing about anything, as long as it's depressing. But on Exciter there's an autobiography in the lyrics that, for the first time, strikes a chord with skeptics and believers alike. Singer David Gahan's battle with addiction and its horrendous pitfalls took its toll in DM's 1990s releases; Songs of Faith and Devotion failed to measure up to their groundbreaking albums of the '80s, and Ultra found songwriter Martin Gore less inspired, and a hoarse Gahan incapable of delivering his signature clear and booming vocals. Mercifully, the band has exorcised the demons and produced an album that places them squarely back on track. The opener, "Dream On," is a close cousin to "Personal Jesus," combining earthy guitar with electrified, pulsating synths. The track's physical and metaphorical imagery poignantly relays the karmic revolution of living the fast life. The brilliant, mesmerizing monster of a tune, "The Dead of Night," swaggers with a giant, crushing industrial beat like a Nine Inch Nails song dressed in glamorous drag, while the ballads "Shine" and "Freelove" are as beautiful as the classic "Somebody" (but entirely unburdened by saccharine sentimentality). Gore's keen ear for shimmering sonics and bellowing rhythm reinvigorate the Depeche Mode-branded synth-pop that's remained unique for the last 20 years. In all, Exciter is a stunning return to form, and a triumph by every definition. --Beth Massa
Musicfolio (www.musicfolio.com)
Since the departure of their multi-instrumentalist Alan Wilder, DM have opted for the route of simplifying sound effects. Ultra was surely calmer than Songs of Faith & Devotion, and Exciter continues the trend. While keeping the same dark and slow tempo mood of their preceding album, DM have chosen a more minimalist approach on Exciter where many layers of sound were stripped down in comparison to other DM releases, resulting in songs that emphasize on tunes and vocals. Real drums, base, electric guitars, piano and other instruments, that were very much present on the last two albums, are almost entirely nonexistent. In short, the absence of Wilder and a good producer is strongly felt. However lyrics, tunes and vocals are very much entwined, forming a very strong and coherent package of songs that still maintains the level that DM have always made us anticipate. The melodies are as delightful as ever and David Gahan shines once again in a world-class vocal effort, where he displays a whole spectrum of tonalities. At times, he can barely be heard whispering the words like on the two moving lullabies "Goodnight Lovers" and "When the Body Speaks". After all, it's hard to ask for more from a band that has exceeded everyone's expectations over so many years. Exciter would surely not deceive any DM fan; if anything it's another justification for the huge loyal fan base that this band has built and kept over the years. Rating 3.5 out of 5
Elle Magazine:
Depeche Mode--once dismissed as new-wave synth pop--are now considered electronic-music innovators; their current album, "Exciter", finds them just as vital as they were twenty years ago. Accessible yet avante-garde minimalist, moodily detached yet surprisingly emotional, Exciter presents a band not only in their prime, but--dare we say it--in the mode.
Maxim Magazine:
If there's anything more pathetic than a botched suicide attempt, it's a new offering from Depeche Mode. Though the band still gets its groove on(especially with the sinuous accoustic-guitar stutter of "Dream On"), frontman Dave Gahan seems sadder than ever, creepily crooning sentiments like "You've been hanging from a rope of mediocrity/Strung up by your insecurities"(on "Shine"). As for "Exciter", the music moves us, but as the head moper himself sang: "Words are very unnecessary/They can only do harm." Rating *** out of *****
Q Magazine (www.qonline.co.uk):
They are, of course, indestructible, and not just because singer Dave Gahan survived a hefty smack habit. Depeche Mode seem bullet-proof because even an album as distinctly below par as their last one, 1997's Ultra, resulted in worldwide sales of over four million. The sheer momentum of a 20-year, 50 million album-selling career has enabled the Basildon trio to pull through the kind of creative troughs and work-related stress that would break lesser outfits. In this respect, they are - like it or not - the closest wussy synth-rock will ever get to a Rolling Stones. And in the face of such blue-chip stability only one question remains: are Depeche Mode any good anymore?
Not really. At best, Exciter is superficially attractive: an exercise in good taste that mixes contemporary droning with shuffling drums and guitar. It's a pleasant enough wrapping, provided by producer Mark Bell (Bjoerk), that slips easily around Dave Gahan's recharged vocals and swaggering ballads such as The Sweetest Condition.
In fact Gahan, whose ill health hampered the making of Ultra, has rarely sound more potent. This time its Martin Gore who's out of puff. No amount of fashionable tweaking can hide the flimsiness of his offerings: I Am You and Breathe are sliver-thin, while I Feel Loved is a clumsy lunge towards the techno sounds originally inspired by the band. Elsewhere The Dead Of Night feebly thanks an entire generation of US Goth rockers for their support by twinning nonsense about "zombie rooms" and "twilight parasites" with an anodyne, Marilyn Manson-style mechanical grind. At which point anyone who believed Depeche Mode were a more sophisticated and subtle venture than their gloom-by-numbers imitators will begin to feel very disappointed indeed.
Present-day Depeche Mode are an enervating experience. Exciter might be measured and cool but it's also devoid of genuine drama and appealing melody: once the band's greatest strengths. Not that any of this this will hurt them though: the Depeche Mode juggernaut is sure to rumble on regardless.
Rating: ** out of *****
Reviewed by Gareth Grundy
Sonic Net (www.sonicnet.com):
While Basildon, England's Depeche Mode began their career in the 1980s as slightly geeky, New Romantic electro-poppers, by 1993's classic Songs of Faith and Devotion they had emerged as electronic rock's answer to the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin - morphing, along the way, into a band whose taboo-breaking lifestyle had become intertwined with their music until there was little distance between the two.
Yet, as all Dionysian rockers eventually discover, the survival of such trangressive questing presents unique problems. After you've died for your "art" - as Depeche Mode vocalist Dave Gahan just about did after a 1996 incident - what next? If 1997's eclectic Ultra pointed toward a number of possible musical (and philosophical) directions, then Exciter - whose very title seems a bit of an in-joke on the part of this ever-perverse group - settles with more certainty on an overall unity of mood and texture.
Indeed, the "excitement" here is of a more mature, psychological nature, with the Mode positioned as wily survivors who enjoy whispering salacious tales of temptation in your ear. Take the subdued single "Dream On" , in which the band's lyricist, guitarist/keyboardist Martin Gore, warns via singer Gahan that "Paying debt to karma/ You party for a living/ What you take won't kill you/ But careful what you're giving." With its mix of Gore's acoustic guitars, muted electronic polyrhythms tweaked expertly by ace Björk producer Mark Bell, and Gahan's whispery vocal, the quietly sinister "Dream On" takes the Mode into new musical territory, and sets the tone for much of what follows.
Longtime fans will no doubt be initially thrown by the lack of "motorik" beats and general rock action here. Yet after a couple of listens, many of Exciter's songs begin to worm their way into the subconscious. Gahan, his singing more delicate than ever, mines heretofore unexplored realms of emotion on "Shine", a laid-back invitation to sensual pleasure ("Forget the pictures on your TV screen/ We'll steal the visions/ That you keep for your dreams"), crooned in Bowie-esque fashion. And the mellow (!) highlight "When the Body Speaks" is a yearning lullaby in which straightforward sentiments like "Oh, I need your tenderness" are rescued from banality by the passion with which they are rendered.
Not everything works here: while the monster electro-mash of "The Dead of Night" is an effectively sardonic trip through Club Zombie that momentarily evokes the more raucous Mode of the early '90s, "I Feel Loved" comes across as a retread of past successes inserted to assuage those put off by the band's new direction. And even the new direction is subject to occasional lapses, as on the aptly named "Comatose," a pointless, uncentered ballad.
Still, by the time the Mode wrap up here with what might be called the ambient R&B of "Goodnight Lovers" - which, with its references to "soul sisters and soul brothers," sounds like something from Body Heat-era Quincy Jones - one is left impressed by these survivors' ability to ease so gracefully into middle age.