Depeche Mode Memento Mori at 2 - Our Geek This Week

Depeche Mode MEMENTO MORI

No, I don’t intend to write one of these for each Depeche Mode album’s anniversary, but on occasion I will post something when it is something I want to write about.

In my opinion, Memento Mori was a return to form and the best Depeche Mode album in 20+ years.

But how can I say that without looking back on those previous albums? I’ll try to be brief.

Playing the Angel (2005) - This is the first Depeche Mode album where, initially, I only liked about half of the album. For the most part, through Exciter, I loved each and every album, as well as each track (with an exception here or there), but for me, this album starts strong, rocking from “A Pain That I’m Used to” through “Suffer Well,” before coming to a dead stop with “The Sinner in Me.” Then they pick things back up with “Precious” and then just fall apart again. This is about the time that I thought that maybe I was starting to outgrow Depeche Mode
Sounds of the Universe (2009) - Similar to Playing the Angel, I feel that this album starts strong (though that intro to “In Chains” is a bit long; I prefer the remix) and then just kind of stumbles all over itself. For some reason Depeche Mode decided they hated Michigan (perhaps it had something to do with their headlining night at Lollapalooza that year), but the closest they came (other than Lolla/Chicago) was something like Toronto, seven hours away from me. Consequently, since World Violation this is the only tour of theirs that I missed.
Delta Machine (2013) - Recurring theme recurs: while this album doesn’t start as strongly as the previous two, there are still some bangers on it (I so love “Soothe My Soul”), and I appreciate where they were trying to go with this release, but again, I think initially I only like about half of it.
Spirit (2017) - I have tried so many times to at least appreciate, if not like, this album, but other than “Going Backwards” and “Cover Me,” this album is just a giant turd. While I may have found something to appreciate about their other releases from the aughts, this one, man, this one is just so bad. I thought that after this album the band was done. Yes, I saw them on the subsequent tour, and it’s probably why I appreciate “Cover Me” as much as I do (live it’s great), but this is by far their worst album, yes, even worse than Speak & Spell and A Broken Frame. At least those two albums were about a band trying to find out who they were, first with Vince, and then after he left, the new-fawn legs of Martin taking over as chief songwriter. In that light, I can appreciate them, but Spirit is a band that has lost its way with no certainty that they will ever find it again, but then…

…the band, now a duo with the unfortunate passing of Fletch, found a way to make their most invigorating album in 20+ years, where they showed that they not only found their way, but built upon everything that came before in a resounding success. For a good portion of the 2000s I listened to albums by The Pet Shop Boys, OMD, and New Order, Depeche Mode’s contemporaries, where they still showed vibrance, experimentation, and maybe more importantly, relevance, and wondered what had happened to my favorite band. Where was that spark? That experimentation? That quality and relevance. Spirit led me to believe it was all gone, never to return, but Memento Mori proved me wrong. This, THIS was the album that I had been waiting for them to release for decades.

Do I love every track? Of course not (“Caroline’s Monkey,” anyone), but again, I loved most of the album. Somehow, some way, the band had righted the ship, and holy fuck was it fantastic!

(Aside: time seems to soften edges; I want to say that leading up to, and during, the initial release of Memento Mori I went through and relistened to every Depeche Mode album. I can now say that I appreciate each of their albums (except Spirit) for their own unique reasons, and in fact, found myself enjoying tracks that upon first listen I disliked.)

I listened to Memento Mori incessantly upon its release, for most of the first year after it came out, and now, two years since, I still throw it on quite a bit. Part of that may have been due to the nostalgic experience of its release. The Depeche Mode online group I’ve been in for 30+ years moved to WhatsApp sometime before the album came out and our discussions about the new album, the same ones we had via Bong in the 90s, happened in real time and I think resuscitated the fandom in some, if not all, of us.

I met lifelong friends in Las Vegas to see Depeche Mode on that tour, and then went with another set of friends to see them again when they came to Detroit eight months later.

So yeah, it’s only been two years, but for me it may end up being a bookend of sorts. If Violator, my favorite album of all time, turned me in a devotee of Depeche Mode, well, what if the black/red/white cover of Memento Mori mirrors that album to signify what may be the close of Depeche Mode? Well, with this album and that tour, they went out on top, no question.

A part of me kind of hopes they do stop there. They’ve done it all. They have nothing else to prove.

But the crazed fan in me will always want Depeche Mode to put out new albums.

I don’t know Dave or Martin (despite me referring to them on a first-name basis), nor do I have any insider information, but if this was then end, I’d be OK with that, begrudgingly so, but ultimately I would be OK with it.

And yes, it would break my heart.

But nothing lives forever.

Memento Mori.