Memento Mori – “remember that you die” – would have been an appropriate album title for black leather synth rockers Depeche Mode at any time, but it feels particularly powerful right now. Conceived in the early stages of the pandemic, when death was on everyone’s mind, the band’s fifteenth album was also tormented by the fact that, as they approached their sixties, principal songwriter Martin Gore was about to reach the same age as his stepfather, who reared him, when he died.
Last May, founding member Andy “Fletch” Fletcher died unexpectedly at the age of 60 from an aortic dissection. Fletch, like The Rolling Stones’ Charlie Watts or The Who’s John Entwistle, lacked star qualities in comparison to tempestuous Gore or sepulchral singer Dave Gahan, but his absence changes the dynamic significantly. Without their buffer, the frequently dispersed surviving duo has found themselves working more closely together. Others invited this time include James Ford, a former Arctic Monkeys producer who also worked on Depeche Mode’s last album, experimental Italian producer Marta Salogni, and Psychedelic Furs leader Richard Butler, who co-wrote four tracks.
Right from the floral tribute angel wings on the black and white cover to the opening song, My Cosmos is Mine, the mood is set. Industrial beats clank and hiss, an electronic bass sound plays the starkest melody and Gahan intones in low slow motion: “No rain, no clouds, no pain, no shrouds/No final breaths, no senseless deaths.”
While the band has previously effectively merged synthetic soundscapes with epic rock dynamics, a guitar is rare here, with a raw riff appearing in the chorus of Never Let Me Go. The prominent synth tones frequently evoke the early days of electronic music. People Are Good’s recurring melody is reminiscent of a knowing Kraftwerk tribute. Wagging Tongue could have been created by the band’s Eighties lineup. Even on the more catchy tune Ghosts Again, the pace remains languid and the mood dreary. The vastness of the computer effects adds to the song’s intensity, which reaches a cosmic grandeur on the beatless finale, Speak to Me.
