Review Summary: Remember: you must die. And you know, that's okay.
It was only after several months of writing an album of songs about death that they found out that one of their number had died. Andy 'Fletch' Fletcher tragically passed away just weeks before Depeche Mode were due to reconvene in the studio to put together the 15th album of their career. The songs, already dark yet oddly uplifting (that familiar Mode trait) took on a new force as the remaining core husk of the band forged ahead to complete an album that seemed doomed from the start. But it couldn't
just be another Depeche Mode album. With James Ford and Marta Salogni as producers, and The Psychedelic Furs' Richard Butler as a co-writer, the band received one of the biggest shake-ups in its history. Improbably, what has emerged is one of the strongest, most self-assured albums they've ever released.
"Remember: you must die" declares the title, and indeed the lyrics everywhere reference the end - 'Wagging Tongue' declares,
"I'll meet you by the river/Or maybe on the other side", while sparkling lead single 'Ghosts Again' warns that
"Time is fleeting... We'll be ghosts again", though still evoking the same musical space of classic 'Enjoy The Silence'. On the ominous opener 'My Cosmos Is Mine', a vast, empty space of a song, allowing only sharp electric squeals and pounding bass into its void, Dave Gahan lethargically pleads to curl up and shut the world out while Martin Gore chants
"No war! No war! No more! No more!" in the most twisted way possible.
So far, so Depeche. Yet there's an acceptance, a feeling of peace amongst all the angst and cynicism, that allows the beauty of the songs to come through. Gahan-penned 'Before We Drown' shimmers with vulnerability, his vocals delicate rather than bellowing, while Gore-led 'Soul With Me' is an homage to Scott Walker, a wonderfully bizarre lounge song with soaring vocals embracing the afterlife. Elsewhere, 'Don't Say You Love Me' is Depeche Mode's James Bond song, a sweeping, string-filled drama - rather over the top, and all the better for it. 'Caroline's Monkey' is an edgy trip through synth pulses and clipped percussion, Gahan's vocals almost spoken word as he paints a picture of paranoia. 'People Are Good' harks back to the metallic clangs of '84 album Some Great Reward and betrays another influence, 'Computer World' by Kraftwerk, while 'Speak To Me's descending chords produce a beautiful, hymnal ending to the album, promising an explosion or ascension at the end that tantalisingly never quite arrives.
There are few singalong choruses on Memento Mori. Far more important are the many hooks, textures and atmospheres that used to be Depeche Mode's stock in trade. It is an album about acceptance of death, but also embraces life, while recognising how fleeting it all is. But rarely have they produced songs this strong, rarely have they sounded so assured, and - rarely have they sounded so at peace, while remaining, in their souls, jet black. Fletch would be proud.
