DEPECHE MODE: Music For The Masses (POP): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Continuing its frenetic release rhythm, Depeche Mode returns to business 18 months after the excellent "Black Celebration" with a sixth album that will definitely anchor the band at the top of electronic pop, notably through two gigantic hits.

First of them, 'Never Let Me Down Again' opens the ball with its unstoppable melody and a very judicious verse/refrain progression. The orchestration is precise, the sounds modern and the production refined is beautiful, celebrating the band's first publication in CD format. This track is still probably the most accomplished title of the band to date.

Depeche Mode takes the listener by the throat and will never let go of him again throughout ten exciting tracks. A little gliding and silky electro ('The Things you Said'), a striking 'Strange Love' in 'People are People' mode, or a second delightful hit offered by the jumping 'Behind the Wheel' whose opposite is offered by the melancholic 'Little Fifteen', each piece here proposed is a real little pop nugget, declaring moreover a specific identity of the band, which does not prevent the latter from giving a small reference to Kraftwerk with keyboard choruses with very Germanic sounds ('Nothing'). Once again, synthesizers are the kings of the cake (oops!), and despite the era favourable to now obsolete sounds, Depeche Mode had the good taste not to fall into caricature, which allows to continue to appreciate this album 30 years later.

However, beyond these tracks with their rather classic structure, a real UFO will conclude the album. "Pimpf" offers us an instrumental finale, with onomatopoeias chanted as the accompaniment gains in power, like a soundtrack to a thriller film where anxiety would gradually rise! And to better digest the effect, a few moments of silence precede a small hidden title of a handful of seconds that relaxes the atmosphere somewhat.

A real boost in Depeche Mode's career, and especially on the American continent, "Music for the Masses" can be considered as the real cornerstone of the band's discography, a prelude to the commercial successes that followed, but also the beginning of the end of the period of the electronic world that will end with "Violator". - Official website

DEPECHE MODE

MUSIC FOR THE MASSES

AUTRE LABEL

POP