DEPECHE MODE Ultra
3 out of 5
This is the soundtrack for this years spring-depression.
Depressed Mode.
Now heavier, more low-spirited and depressed than ever.
The title of Depeche Mode's latest, ninth album, Ultra makes me think of a more pop-like and easy side of the band. But this time Andy Fletcher (!?) seem to have written an album that emerges like a reflection of the band's inner chaos. Lately interviews with Depeche and the band's singer David Gahan have dealt more with his heroin-addiction, lately founded rock'n'roll-image with accompanying tattoes and suicideattempt, than the music itself.
Now I really do think Depeche Mode shall sound like this. They should not make ploppy, happy synthpop and not go too much towards the new dancemusic that they to some extent have inspired with their earlier works. I want Depeche as a dark, depressed orchestra that willingly unite their British and German synthetic roots with a form of more firmly rooted Americana. That is big synthetic tones with a fat mellotron in the bottom that later confronts a lonely slide-guitar. That kind of material is also on Ultra. Check out the slightly brilliant In Freestate (!) which is a travel in the colours of the European industrialism over the American prairie. The tempo is mostly more moderate on Ultra, it's noticeable that the misters are out on a trip where the sun hardly is allowed admission. Spirit Of The Night appear as an almost sacred ballad where the religion is blac gothicism.
The singles may not be as immediate this time but there is a unity that creates an incredible tension in these recordings. At least for an audience which seeks the darkness at the same time as we are gowing towards brighter times. Or...
Olle Berggren
Kvallsposten, May 2nd 1997
Thanks to Ulf Nilsson
