Memento Mori

What an amazing album the band has given the fans. If this is to he their swan song, that a beautiful one it is."My Cosmos Is Mine” The album opens with a dark, bombastic, Nine Inch Nails like soundscape, met with Dave’s soft vocals describing the safety of his own world, and deriding anything that would chance to intrude. The middle 8th at first listen seemed jarring and displaced, but over time with repeated listens grows into an expression of frustration over the constant rocking of the boat by events of the world threatening the solace of his own cosmos. 8/10“Wagging Tongue" The Gore / Gahan written track. Begins with Erasure like synths and develops into a synth folk track reminiscing of The Magnetic Fields Born on a Train. Lyrically has hits of Leonard Cohen. Driving synth drum kicks in to drive the track to an Ultra like Middle 8th and Bridge. 8.5/10"Ghosts Again" The lead single from the album, I blissfully major chord structure unlike mode in that regard. Richard Butler influence on the track is obvious, you could hear this as a Psychedelic Furs song. Plaintive lyrics that speak to the passing of time and the inevitable loss of life, youth, dreams. 8/10"Don't Say You Love Me" Ennio Morricone meets the Gore / Butler track. Dave’s vocals are impressive on this moving tale of comparisons in a relationship. Haunting string arrangements lifts the track to another level with aching longing. 9/10"My Favorite Stranger" The Gore-Butler track starts with a chugging bass line and melody line reminiscent of Paint it Black by the Rolling Stones. A track seemingly describing the singers view that another version of himself has caused his problems in life. 8/10"Soul with Me" The only Martin Gore sung track on the album, has at time a very 70’s vibe with the chord structure. Lounge like in structure and extolling the virtues of being free from one’s mortal coil. Also, the OMD-esqe Choir pads were surprising as well. 7.5/10"Caroline's Monkey" An odd track describing the monkey on the back of the song’s protagonist, drugs presumable the monkey in this case. Bass line straight from an 80’s new wave track offsets the darkness of the lyrics. Bass line via Yazoo changes up at a very pop structured chorus, with an included nod to “Clean” from the Violator album with the note drop to the lyric “Sometimes” 7.5/10"Before We Drown" Gahan penned this track along with live band members Peter Gordeno, and Christian Eigner. Lush chords drive the verse to a major key lift for the chorus. One of the best tracks on the album. Has a beauty that sits well against the vocals and instrumentation. 9/10"People Are Good” Martin taps into the man machine on this one. Very Kraftwerk like synth line leads this pleading to one’s self not to forget that people are good, but does he really believe it or is he just fooling himself? A fun track in the mix. 8/10"Always You" The opening notes feel very Depeche Mode, then a synth driven bass line pushes the song along with vocals that appear at time fragile from Dave. A pleading to ones loves for resolution and pleading for someone to stay. The chorus like many of the tracks of this album lift these tracks to transcendence with Dave really doing some impressive vocals on this track. 9/10"Never Let Me Go" New Order meets Depeche Mode. Simple bass line matched by a heavily distorted simple guitar line. Dave’s vocals here sound more like Depeche Mode circa 1985. Tinkling synth lines comes in for the 2nd verse and on that mixes it up. Then the chorus hits with an odd but functional swing in vocals doubled by Martin. Probably the weakest track on the album, could have been a B-Side, not bad by any stretch but possible the “Lillian” of the album. 7/10"Speak to Me" Then we reach one of the best songs in the band’s history. Dave penned track relating one can assume to his suicide attempt in august of 1995 in a bathroom in his Los Angeles home. He pleads for God to give him a sign and finds salvation by being “found” by the end of the track. The chord work on this track is unlike anything from the band before. At times you could hear this as a track from a Broadway production. Lush strings and distortion and tape loops augment the transitions in the track leading to a heartbeat like bass drum. 10/10Depeche Modes best album this century, gone are the over saturated vocals and forced lyrical structures. Replaced with clean and at times tender vocals, string arrangements, major lifts, and effects and tape loops that creates an overall experience from start to finish. Definitely an album beast heard on a good pair of headphones.

I Love love Love Depeche Mode they have been my favorite band since the 80s so having to get this album was a MUST HAVE ! Glad I got It through Amazon , it came super quick and was carefully packaged . Best cd I bought in a long time. Thank You. :)

Love every album they have put out, never gets old their tunes and messages in their lyrics.

This is an extremely good piece of music! Depeche mode is not last a step over the years still such good and talented musicians! However the quality of the CD itself has diminished. After only a few times listening, it somehow developed a very small scratch and try as I might, it will not play song number four.

This new album took me by surprise. Depeche Mode's last album, "Spirit" from 2017, was pretty dreary, even draggy, to me. So imagine my delight when I found the production on this one to be stronger, more muscular. This applies to each track except the first and the last (which are solemn for a reason). And this is in spite of the lyrical content and themes of many of the songs. "Memento Mori" translates loosely as "reminder of death or mortality", so don't look for "Let's Get This Party Started" on this album, but some tracks do project just a shade of a pleasant, optimistic mood in their sound. The single "Ghosts Again" is one of those, in spite of lyrics like "Everybody says goodbye/Faith is sleeping/Lovers, in the end/Whisper we'll be ghosts again." I would include "Wagging Tongue", "Always You" and "Never Let Me Go" in this group. Then there are those which, while not totally dark or scary, project a negative mood, possibly an acceptance of disappointment or defeat. These are "Don't Say You Love Me", "My Favorite Stranger", "Before We Drown" and certainly "People Are Good", which says things we don't always like to admit: "Keep telling myself/That people are good/Keep fooling myself/That they do all they can."The most interesting tracks are those that radiate an "other-worldly" atmosphere. The opening track "My Cosmos Is Mine" has a futuristic, sterile feel, conveyed by quietly pounding drums, grating sounds, and spacy, sometimes dissonant, vocals. "Soul With Me" has eerie, seemingly unearthly, synth sounds that make this ballad something that might be played for the last dance at a high school senior prom in the year 2039: "Kiss goodbye to all my earthly cages/I'm climbing up the golden stairs...And I'm taking my soul with me." "Caroline's Monkey" exhibits production effects that provoke suspense, in support of some pretty ambiguous lyrics; and it presents a pragmatic but uninspiring philosophy: "Fading's better than failing/Falling's better than feeling." The final track "Speak To Me" presents a dreamlike soundscape as a background for someone desperate for a savior: "Speak to me, and I will follow...Give me some kind of plan...I'm listening, I hear you, your sound...I'm listening, I'm here now, I'm found." The track has a thought-provoking instrumental ending. The music builds in intensity, then fades, and then it just......stops. Considering the album's title, I think the implication is clear.

Great band and great CD.

Excelente CD del ahora dueto, muy buena calidad al puro estilo Depeche Mode.

Es complicado hacer un disco tan bueno como MM, después de joyas como Violator, Songs of F&D o Ultra. Quizá sea el disco definitivo de DM, homenaje a Andy Fletcher.

Ne boudons pas notre plaisir : un album de Depeche Mode est toujours un plaisir renouvelé.Il semble cependant manquer sur chaque titre le fameux "détail" apporté par le regretté Fletcher et qui change tout... On trouve la marque de fabrique de Dave et de Martin, mais l'absence de Fletch s'entend également.Reste un album que je recommande largement, même s'il manque le quelque-chose... plus essentiel que beaucoup prétendaient à tord à mon avis. RIP.

Al di là che sono un fan …. C’è originale e nuovo. Arrivato integro e perfetto.W i depeche!!!