Depeche Mode

Delta Machine

(Sony)

now into their fourth decade, the sonic shtick Depeche Mode had established by the time they released Black Celebration in 1986 – dark, S&M-tinged synth-rock – has served them well. Now, as younger bands revisit the sounds and styles of the 1980s and urban producers trawl their back catalogue for samples, they've become a name to drop. Here, on their 13th studio album, they serve up great brooding slabs of synth bass over which Dave Gahan does his sermonising, the lyrics tinged with religious imagery and dark imaginings. However, it's the sonics that appeal more: My Little Universe is pleasingly spare, the subdued vocals and minimal lyrics leaving room for some brutal electronics, while Soft Touch/Raw Nerve is a four-to-the-floor banger that could have come from almost any of those four decades. Delta Machine is almost faultless.

Barry Didcock