Depeche Mode - Delta Machine

When I heard Depeche Mode would be releasing a new album I was looking forward to what they would give us. When they released "Heaven" as the first single I thought... "ok, no where near as good as the lead single from Sounds of the Universe - "Wrong" but... we'll see what the rest of the album holds..." And now it's out. I listened (more than once) and was REALLY disappointed. Here are my thoughts on each track, summed up. (I may have missed a few tracks, as the whole thing was such a disappointment I may have gotten lost a little bit.

Welcome to my world - brooding ballad - ok, so we're warming up...

Angel - terrible arrangement and production

Heaven - ok - mid-tempo ballad

Secret to the end - terrible lyrics and melody

My Little Universe - HATE the arrangement - boring song overall - feels like they are just doing it to hear themselves do it...

Slow - lives up to its name, for sure... at least the arrangement and production isn't a mess like on some of these other tracks...

Broken - decent, I guess.

The Child Inside - Slow, meandering... ...zzzz.... oh, I'm sorry... I dozed off there.

Soft Touch/Raw Nerve - again, with the production/arrangement...

Alone - terrible. just... terrible.

Soothe My Soul - I actually kinda like this one, even if the lyrics are a bit weak/repetitive.

Goodbye - YAY, finally a good one!

Long Time Lie - might like after time... but still... ANOTHER slow one? Are we going the full emo/goth here?


Happens All The Time - kill.me.

Always - ugly dissonance that never resolves. and surprise... another slow, droning track!

All That's Mine - another stumbling, broken-sounding arrangement. I mean, I understand trying to be original and different, but seriously, there comes a point where it just sounds like garbage. 

With a better arrangement, many of these may have actually been decent songs... I guess I can hope they will release some decent remixes of some of them.