DEPECHE MODE - Playing The Angel Review

Close your eyes and you'd think we were back in the good old days of the concept album. From the title to the footnote on the back of the CD - "pain and suffering in various tempos" - Depeche Mode are in spiritual territory. Lest that footnote sounds awfully gloomy, I should add that much of the music soars, producer John Hillier (Doves, Blur) adding an appropriate otherworldly dimension....full text A return to form. There, I said it. It's a boring old cliché but in this case, an appropriate one. The troubled electro kings have come storming back with album number 11: a deeply personal work which shows off Dave Gahan's dramatic vocals to perfection, and shines with trademark Mode melancholia and dark sexuality....full text There's some experimentation with an industrial, techno vibe, and it works....full text