Depeche Mode - Sounds of the Universe (2009)

1) In Chains; 2) Hole to Feed; 3) Wrong; 4) Fragile Tension; 5) Little Soul; 6) In Sympathy; 7) Peace: 8) Come Back; 9) Spacewalker; 10) Perfect; 11) Miles Away/The Truth Is; 12) Jezebel; 13) Corrupt

Return to the old sound doesn't unfortunately equal to return to the old songwriting.

Key tracks: "In Chains", "Fragile Tension", "Miles Away/The Truth Is".

The first thing on Sounds of the Universe that leaves an impression is the sound. In fact, it’s the one thing that everyone focused on. Depeche Mode’s own comments about the album around the time of its release were largely about its chosen sound world and how the work on the album began when they dusted off some of their early synthesizers, and decided to bring them back to the spotlight. Befittingly, the fans then talked about the flashback production and how reminiscent it was of the earlier albums and the glory days. Most of the critical reception struggled to start their reviews without mentioning the production. Even the name of the album is on the game. And, well, fair enough - Sounds of the Universe does sound really nice. It’s a merger of the old and the new where older analogue synths buzz together with more modern sensibilities which is neat on its own, but the real important thing is that with it some of the overt sheen that was all over the last few albums prior to this has been scraped off. That little edge that was missing for a while is back and it complements the band’s romantic doom & gloom ethos far better than the gloss. Sounds of the Universe doesn’t feature an awe-inspiring production job by any means, but it suits the band in question perfectly.

It’s apparent soon enough that the reason no one ever talks about anything else but the sound is because there’s in fact little else to talk about Sounds of the Universe. It’s not because of lack of trying, certainly. The production harks back to the early 90s when the band were their most consistently solid with their writing, while the songwriting style is a fairly clear continuation on the ideas the preceding late-career highlight Playing the Angel rode on: Gahan even brings back the same co-writer pals from outside the band that he collaborated with on Angel for another three-song set. The problem is, by drawing these direct comparison points to past glories it simply underlines how this time the songs just aren’t up to scratch: the melodies are barely there, the attempted hooks and big moments come off half-baked and the revitalised energy from the last album is all gone. The most memorable songs on the album are such for all the wrong reasons: the primary singles “Wrong” and “Peace” are the two instantly catchiest songs on the album, but the former is borderline hilarious in its aggressive repetitiveness that has worn off its novelty by the time the first verse has finished and the latter is an admittedly fine chorus desperately trapped between throwaway verses. But at least they stand out: mostly Sounds of the Universe leaves through one ear as soon as it’s entered the other. To be more precise, the album isn’t guilty of being poor - it simply verges on completely unmemorable.

Credit where credit is due, Sounds isn’t entirely without its merits. Gahan at least tries to get as much out of the material he’s been given as he can and his vocal performances are one of the constant shining lights throughout. The real best songs of the album – “Fragile Tension” and “Miles Away/The Truth Is” – largely repeat the tricks that worked on Playing the Angel but with diminishing returns; they’re the best of the bunch here because they actively get the listener engaged when they enter the fray by boasting the best arrangements and melodies of the album, but it wouldn’t also be particularly agonising should I never hear them again. For the most part, if anything, Sounds of the Universe proves that covering weak songwriting with a neat production job only carries for so far and for so long.  Even though sonically this is probably the best Depeche Mode have been since the late-90s, it doesn’t matter much when the songs don’t have anything going on for them. And indeed - if the sound is all people talked about Sounds of the Universe around its release, it’s telling that these days people simply forget to talk at all about the album.

Rating: 4/10