Track Listing

1. In Chains
2. Hole To Feed
3. Wrong
4. Fragile Tension
5. Little Soul
6. In Sympathy
7. Peace
8. Come Back
9. Spacewalker
10. Perfect
11. Miles Away / The Truth Is
12. Jezebel
13. Corrupt

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1940 in Music
• Released on: 2009-04-20
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
If 2005's Playing the Angel saw Dave Gahan and Co. make a point of proving they could keep up with their younger contemporaries, Sounds of the Universe, the band’s 12th studio album, sounds like they’ve accepted their three-decade long legacy and settled into a role that’s decidedly avuncular. Swapping the industrial clangor for dreamy, analogue atmospherics marred by the occasional buzzing jolt, producer Ben Hillier (Doves, Blur, Elbow) has achieved an impressive consistency with the band’s synth-drenched soundscape. Tracks like “In Chains” see the band descend into middle-aged, forlorn balladry, though the rough and rhythmic "Wrong" and the upbeat, rockist “Hole To Feed” show they still have a gnarly side.--Danny McKenna

CD Description
Twelfth album, following 2005's 'Playing The Angel', from the only credible new romantic survivors, whose constant updating of their dark and seductive sound has won them successive generations of loyal fans. This album, which has been hailed by some critics as their best work to date, has an abrasive, retro analogue synth sound consistent with their recentmaterial. Available in a variety of formats, it again features songwriting contributions from frontman Dave Gahan and includes the single 'Wrong'.

Customer Reviews

Another slow burner
Sounds of The Universe is an album that will reward repeated listening, as all Mode records do.

Produced by Ben Hillier, the album's overall sound will be comfortable for those who enjoyed "Playing the Angel" and less so for the rock fans who came on board with "Songs of Faith and Devotion". It is more open, detailed, and less compressed than "Playing The Angel" , and from that point of view, SOTU is a better record than its predecessor.

Lead single "Wrong" is the closest we get to the original 80's blueprint - a never ending litany of woe over a sleazy mid tempo synth fest. It's an act of song-writing bravery to pile so much repetition into a lyric, but it works.

The manifesto is set though, by the opening track "In Chains" a slowly evolving soundscape fades in from the sort of bleepy experiments so beloved of the 70's electro pioneers, before Gahan's ever improving voice slides effortlessly onto the top of the mix, backed by yet another "never before heard" take on what a guitar can sound like... a trick the Mode have continually reworked since Personal Jesus redefined them back in the early 90's.

Like all three previous studio albums, one could argue that SOTU is too long, and that the brief atmospheric interlude "Spacewalker" adds little, but over the course of 13 tracks, this album delivers for fans, although it may struggle to win new ones.

Highlights for me are "In Chains", "Wrong" "Fragile Tension" "In Sympathy" "Come Back", (possibly the stand out, but a track few other reviewers have mentioned) and "Corrupt"

Martin Gore is a supremely clever songwriter - but not always a subtle one. Some of the lyrics, as ever, are obvious and a little gauche. Long term fans accepted this years ago, (after 1984's "People are People", to be exact) and it won't change anytime soon. Similarly, the themes are well established - Love, sex, emotional alienation and existential angst; all served up with lashings of sleaze and BDSM imagery, are Gore's stock in trade.

Gahan's contribution, seemingly set now as 3 tracks per album, sits well alongside Gore's work, and this is testament in itself. Of his songs, "The Truth Is" is my favourite.

This record won't grab you by your lapels and make you love it. There is no revelatory moment such as "Personal Jesus", or "In Your Room", and this might account for the lack lustre reviews it seems to be getting. Let it seep and strain it's way in though, and you'll most likely agree that it's a worthwhile addition to the DM canon. Perhaps not their best work, but absolutely not their worst - this is a good record, and if you're a fan, especially if you enjoyed "Playing the Angel" , you're unlikely to be disappointed.

A fresher Mode
I have to admit after my first listern i wasn't to impressed. Maybe i was expecting a harder darker album from the boys and 'Wrong' and 'I could corrupt you' excluded this release see's a milder Depeche mode than before.
But now i have heard the album a few more times i must say i'm very impressed. It would have been easy for them to make another industrial sounding record but instead they have made an album that although not mainstream by any means sounds as fresh and relevant as anything being produced today.
In all a very good album and the Modes best since SOFAD.
Note..Do not judge this on poor quality internet postings. For best results listern on a decent hi-fi or through headphones and the great production will soon have you mesmerised.

Astonishing - and I'm not even a fan
I've always had a soft spot for Depeche Mode simply for the acoustic version of your Own Personal Jesus, which is a work of brilliance. But, I've never really been a fan. Just liked one or two of their songs. I assumed there'd be nothing there after 25 years - how can you still have something to write/sing/create after 25 years of writing/singing/creating? But, I bought this prompted by the reviews that suggested there was something special happening here. And there is. The retro fest the other 80s bands - Spandau, Ultravox, Durans - are tediously engaging in is old and tired. This album is incredibly new and fresh; every song an instantly catchy tune, but without the frothiness that implies. It has the usual dark (how could it not with Gahan) edges, anomie, yearning and angst, but far more grown up than ever before, and with a melodic theme running through that I don't remember from them in the past. Just brilliant song-writing. Thoughtful, edgy lyrics. And, as I say, that's not from an uncritical fan. I notice from other reviews that some DM diehard fans don't like this album. Others love it. Maybe it's for a broader audience, then. Polarised views - "It's great/It's terrible" - must be more indicative that there is something in this than a slew of 'It's good' or 'It's OK' reviews, I guess, which would suggest mediocrity. I don't often write reviews. But, this album struck me as astonishingly good, and I was surprised by the split between good and negative reviews, so I felt compelled...