Death and loss hang over the mournful Memento Mori, Depeche Mode's 15th album and first without founder Andy Fletcher. Begun long before his passing in 2022 and largely influenced by the effects of a global pandemic, this sombre album took on even greater seriousness and significance after his death. Understandably restrained and emotionally heavy, this is the sound of two old friends recovering from tragedy and not giving up hope for their remaining days. Without Fletch as a buffer and peacemaker, Martin Gore and Dave Gahan have been forced to grow closer, resulting in one of their most engaging and thematically coherent albums to date. The ominous opener "My Cosmos Is Mine" takes back control of an unpredictable world, repeating the mantra "No fear.... no rain/No rain/No final breaths, no senseless deaths" against a backdrop of industrial rumbling pistons and ghostly space haze. The bittersweet tone and cosmic claps in the Gore and Gaan co-written track "Wagging Tongue" take them back to early synth-pop, as does another throwback moment - one of their best singles "Ghosts Again" (one of four tracks co-written with Richard Butler of Psychedelic Furs). The melancholic beauty of this heartbreaker shines through the tear-jerking, filtering "Enjoy the Silence" through New Order's "True Faith" as Gahan laments, "Everybody says goodbye." The drama is heightened in the gothic waltz of "Don't Say You Love Me," a string pulse that sounds like Gahan has led Soulsavers into a haunted ballroom, and in Gore's obligatory solo on the album, "Soul with Me," a swaying ballad where he finds resolve in the face of the inevitable, singing "I'm heading for my ever after" with his vulnerable, angelic vocals. The detached "Caroline's Monkey" resurrects Exciter's digital coldness and themes of addiction from the '90s' darkest period, just as the pulsing menace of "My Favourite Stranger" reaches a disconcerting yet tantalising level of unease, cutting through a barrage of distortion with post-punk guitars. As for the highlights that should eventually find their way onto one of the band's inevitable future compilations, the most immediate of them make clever nods to past hits, luring fans in with familiarity before hitting them with exactly the Depeche Mode hallmarks they crave. Pulsing with an irresistible club beat and dark neon synths, "People Are Good" shows that little has changed in the world since their 1984 breakthrough single of the same name, as Gaaan tries to convince himself to believe in humanity. Meanwhile, the driving "Never Let Me Go" cuts through acerbic NIN-style guitars on an urgent plea that could have been taken from the vault of Playing the Angel. Speaking of this career highlight, Memento Mori, track by track, is their most solid effort since Angel and the best in a catalogue that's surprisingly spanning four decades of their career. Facing death and the inevitable sunset of their long, story-rich career, Gore and Gahan turn tragedy into something profound and universally understandable. While Memento Mori is not their most immediate offering, it is their most heartfelt, thoughtful, and moving statement in decades.
Neil Z. Yeung. Allmusic.com.
