Depeche Mode's "Delta Machine:" Good, but irrelevant

What happens when sad boys become old men?

Depeche Mode’s new album “Delta Machine” continues the band’s foray into electronic melancholy. The tracks are dark and sensual, but after 13 full-length studio releases, finding new ways to express frustration is proving to be cumbersome for Depeche Mode.

“Heaven,” the album’s lead single, lingers like a 1990s power-pop ballad with hooks sang “ov-er and ov-er.” Though pleasantly moody, Depeche Mode’s new aesthetic seems difficult to place between 1987 and 1994 and will surely have difficulty finding a new audience in 2013.

Where Depeche Mode originally won fans through their tinkly, striking new wave dance singles, the band is now trying to maintain its older, aging fanbase through bitter, resentful tracks. If the band’s debut material was for 20-something club kids in 1980, this album is for those now 50-and-up loyalists who’ve probably experienced at least one divorce and/or totaled Mazda Miata.

All in all, “Delta Machine” is not a poor release. But even Nine Inch Nails and Fischerspooner are having issues staying relevant in the 2010s. Depeche Mode, the grand-daddies of the genre, aren’t any different.

By Jeff LaFave