sounds of the universe – the chronicle

17 april 2009. i finally put my hands on the 12th recording by Depeche Mode. it’s been playing in my audio system ever since.  in a subjective way, it rises up to number 3 in history, after Violator and Sofad. objectively, it’s the fifth, because it’s still not as sparkling as Black Celebration and Music for the Masses. details.

In Chains – 9/10 Just like Higher Love at the beginning of Devotional, it introduces both the noisy background of the whole album and the best vocal quality Dave had ever produced. I felt it coming from Nostalgia already. An inspired beginning, could be first in the concerts too.

Hole to feed – 3/10 No, really, no. Martin is zero in this Gahan song. Why did he insist on bringing this in, leaving Light and Ghost out???

Wrong -9/10 We knew it already. Superb way of composing the lyrics, but a boring middle sector. It’s as fast as a dm-song will ever be, it almost raps.

Fragile Tension – 10/10 Don’t drive on this song! Really, keep the cd far from any car or skip carefully this one, because the guitar riff is absolutely addictive, it screams throttle. Reminds me of Behind the wheel – devotional.

Little Soul – 8/10 Cute lyrics, calms you down after the energy-absorbing fragile tension.

In Sympathy -  6/10 Sadly, a note of Exciter, with all those songs that just filled in. Please don’t play it live, you have better ones!

Peace – 9/10 One of the two “universal” songs. Smells like a big hit and a key point of the concert. Love the last minute.

Come Back – 7/10 This song is so much “Hourglass” it was placed on the wrong cd :)) you can see it’s a Gahan/Eigner song from a distance!

Perfect – 10/10. A perfect grade for a perfect song. As DM does so often, this song has the referrence to the title of the album hidden in it. It’s a splendid celestial cry for a different world. Songs like this make Martin a Baudelarian.

Miles away – 9/10.  As in playing the angel, one of the Gahan songs really rocks !

Jezebel – 10/10. The pearl of the crown. Selfish composing superstar Martin keeps the best for himself this time. A true karaoke test to sing this well.The sun and the moon and the stars come as a bonus for Martin fans.

Corrupt – 9/10. PTA ended in a dark but weak note. They fixed it now, with a powerful and creative guitar-backed call for seduction.

All in all, dark poetry to make cohen jealous. wonderful coherence and vocal performance. cd3 is a masterpiece in itself!