Depeche Mode - Exciter

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Free Music Notes for Exciter

Free Music Review: Depeche Mode Return To Cutting-Edge Form
Hit: 5 Stars

Don't get me wrong... I love Songs Of Faith And Devotion (it was the album that got me hooked on DM) and Ultra. I played them both to death and am attached to each and every note on those albums. But I, and I have a feeling that the rest of DM's fans felt similarly, was worried that the DM gang had possibly dried up. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Exciter plays like the album it should - it's the kind of album DM fans should only dream of hearing. Martin's songwriting, while familiar, still holds that element of surprise. Take the tenth track, "Breathe" - a '50s sounding torch/blues song that finds Martin crooning softly about rumors, biblical images, and alibis. Everytime we think we have DM pegged, Martin pulls something like this... it was country-tinged ballad "The Bottom Line" on Ultra and sweeping "One Caress" on SOFAD. Meanwhile, most of the rest of the album plays with the texture of blues, goth, electronica, rock, and pop... something we expect from Martin.

"The Sweetest Condition" uses a slide guitar over David and Martin's bluesy harmonies, and paints a gorgeously longing nighttime scene. "Goodnight Lovers" is subtle, intense and moving, Dave's vocals adding just the right amount of nuance to the simple, downsloped melody line. "Shine" is both beautiful and intense, and the chorus ("You've been hanging from a rope of mediocrity/ Strung up by your insecurities...") is truly one of the highlights of this stunning album. "Freelove" sounds like an instant DM classic, combining David's yearning vocals with a soft melody and arpeggiated guitar.

Song for song, this is probably the most consistent album that DM has done since Violator and maybe even (my personal favorite) Black Celebration. Each song sounds different from the one before it, and Exciter simply flows from one song to the next in the way that those two albums did. The textures on Exciter (meaning the production, rhythm, and melody) remind me a lot of what Black Celebration would sound like if it were cross-bred with Violator. I think a lot of the arrangements and keyboards sound like the harmonies used on Black Celebration (For instance, "Comatose" feels and sounds much the same way that "World Full Of Nothing" did - it breaks its verses and chorus into pieces with its bizarre harmonies; likewise, the easy-going riff on "Freelove" screams of "Black Celebration"'s swirling dissonances.). But Violator is echoed in the content of Exciter's lyrics (love, devotion = sin, filth) and in the simplicity of the songs.

.... For my money, Exciter is a contender for "the best DM album ever," along with Violator and Black Celebration. And, in case you were wondering, its a great introduction to one of the most inventive, influential bands of the last 20 years.

But give yourself time... Exciter grows on you. Don't expect to love it the first time you hear it. Exciter is a very subtle, slow-moving album - there's not a whole lot of shakin' goin' on here. And the production may seem strange and out of place at first. But once it works its magic on you (I'd give it 5 plays or so) be prepared to leave Exciter in your player for a while... Its simply fantastic.

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