• Voto:
Avevamo paura che non li avremmo più ascoltati sotto il nome di "Depeche Mode", invece rieccoli. Dopo un album a testa da solisti e numerose collaborazioni sono ritornati più in forma che mai. Dopo aversele dette di tutti i colori i due maggiori titolari della band Dave Gahan e Martin Gore hanno deciso di fare pace, per il bene di tutti. Questa volta Gahan risulta autore alla pari di Gore (a dimostrazione del suo grande periodo di forma confermato dal suo ultimo album solista e dal successivo tour). E il risultato si sente. "Playing the Angel" sembra una sintesi di due periodi ben distinti dei DM: quelli dell'inizio anni '80 e quelli del periodo a cavallo tra gli '80 e i '90. Infatti l'album suona molto di "Violator" ma anche di alcune canzoni degli inizi: L'inizio di "Suffer Well" non vi ricorda forse l'inizio di una "New Life" rallentata? Il disco tutto suona molto alla DM ed è ovunque impregnato di una certa oscurità e tristezza (The sinner in me, macrovision, nothing's possible
) a conferma del fatto che certi momenti bui attraversati da Gahan e compagni durante gli anni '90 sono difficilmente cancellabili.
L'album si apre con una "A Pain That I'm Used To" che contiene la stessa sirena che si può ascoltare in "The Dead Of Night" (da Exciter) per arrivare ad una distorsione totale di elettronica, sirene e lampi nel bel mezzo del ritornello. Qui Gahan sembra molto a suo agio con una padronanza e una compostezza della voce degne di una "Perfect Jesus". "John The Perelator" è un blues elettronico da hit parade, molto immediato e facilmente orecchiabile. L'impronta di Gahan continua a sentirsi in "Suffer Well" primo dei tre brani scritti da quest'ultimo. che sembra un miscuglio di brami del passato con un ritornello nostalgico. "The Sinner In Me", è una preghiera-syinth in stile "Barrel Of A Gun", e che dire di "Precious", la canzone DM per eccellenza, perfetto singolo, Gahan con voce passionale ci parla di un amore finito: Things get damaged Things get broken I thought we’d managed But words left unspoken
. "Macrovision", pezzo avanguardistico cantato da Gore che sembra uscito da un album di David Sylvian o Brian Eno. Brano in linea col suo ultimo lavoro solista che non a caso ha omaggiato Eno con una versione cupa e fredda di "By This River". L'album continua, cedendo un po' di ritmo, passando da una lenta "I Want It All" ad una struggente "Nothing's Possible" con synth oscuri e acidi che fanno trapelare tristezza e nostalgia. Dopo un brano strumentale "introspective", si passa ad un brano intenso come "Damage People", forse la ballata più bella dell'album ancora una volta cantata da Gore. L'album si chiude con "Lilian" che ci parla di una donna fatale che si diverte a spezzare cuori e ispirare canzoni perfette, e "The Darkest Star", canzone ideale per un finale che ci fa saltare in mente concetti come disperazione, abbandono e dolore.
Alla fine dei conti i DM hanno concepito un album degno dei loro migliori lavori, capace di sintetizzare 25 anni di musica come solo poche band sanno fare.
Elenco tracce testi e samples
01 A Pain That I'm Used To (04:11)
I'm not sure what I'm looking for anymore
I just know that I'm harder to console
I don't see who I'm trying to be instead of me
But the key is a question of control
Can you say what you're trying to play anyway
I just pay while you're breaking all the rules
All the signs that I find have been underlined
Devils thrive on the drive that is fueled
All this running around, well it's getting me down
Just give me a pain that I'm used to
I don't need to believe all the dreams you conceive
You just need to achieve something that rings true
There's a hole in your soul like an animal
With no conscience, repentance, oh no
Close your eyes, pay the price for your paradise
Devils feed on the seeds of the soul
I can't conceal what I feel, what I know is real
No mistaking the faking, I care
With a prayer in the air I will leave it there
On a note full of hope not despair
All this running around, well it's getting me down
Just give me a pain that I'm used to
I don't need to believe all the dreams you conceive
You just need to achieve something that rings true
All this running around, well it's getting me down
Just give me a pain that I'm used to
I don't need to believe all the dreams you conceive
You just need to achieve something that rings true
02 John the Revelator (03:42)
John the Revelator, put him in a elevator
Take him up to the highest high
Take him up to the top where the mountains stop
Let him tell his book of lies
John the Revelator, he's a smooth operator
It's time we cut him down to size
Take him by the hand, and put him on the stand
Let us hear his alibis
By claiming God as his holy right
He's stealing a God from the Israelites
Stealing a God from a Muslim too
There is only one God through and through
Seven lies multiplied by seven
Multiplied by seven again
Seven angels with seven trumpets
Send them home on the morning train
Well who's that shouting, John the Revelator
All he ever gives us is pain
Well who's that shouting, John the Revelator
He should bow his head in shame
By and By
By and By
By and By
By and By
Seven lies multiplied by seven
Multiplied by seven again
Seven angels with seven trumpets
Send them home on the morning train
Well who's that shouting, John the Revelator
All he ever gives us is pain
Well who's that shouting, John the Revelator
He should bow his head in shame
By and By, By and By
John the Revelator
By and By, John the Revelator
By and By, John the Revelator
03 Suffer Well (03:49)
Where were you when I fell from grace,
a frozen heart an empty space
Something's changing it's in your eyes,
please don't speak they're only lies
I found treasure not where I thought
peace of mind that can't be bought,
Still I believe
I just hang on, and suffer well
sometimes it's hard, it's hard to tell
An angel lead me when I was blind
I said take me back I changed my mind
and now I believe
From the blackest room I was torn
you called my name, a love was born
So I believe
I just hang on, and suffer well
sometimes it's hard, it's hard to tell
I just hang on, and suffer well
sometimes it's hard, so hard to tell
04 The Sinner in Me (04:56)
If I could just hide
The sinner inside
And keep him denied
How sweet life would be
If I could be free
From the sinner in me
I'll never be a saint
That's not a picture that your memory paints
Not renowned for my patience
I'm not renowned for my restraint
But you're always around
You can always be found
To pick me up when I'm on the ground
If I could just hide
The sinner inside
And keep him denied
How sweet life would be
If I could be free
From the sinner in me
I'm still recovering
Still getting over all the suffering
More known for my anger
Than for any other thing
But you've always tried
To be by my side
And catch my fall when I start to slide
If I could just hide
The sinner inside
And keep him denied
How sweet life would be
If I could be free
From the sinner in me
05 Precious (04:10)
Precious and fragile things
Need special handling
My God what have we done to You?
We always try to share
The tenderest of care
Now look what we have put You through...
Things get damaged
Things get broken
I thought we'd manage
But words left unspoken
Left us so brittle
There was so little left to give
Angels with silver wings
Shouldn't know suffering
I wish I could take the pain for you
If God has a master plan
That only He understands
I hope it's your eyes He's seeing through
Things get damaged
Things get broken
I thought we'd manage
But words left unspoken
Left us so brittle
There was so little left to give
I pray you learn to trust
Have faith in both of us
And keep room in your hearts for two
Things get damaged
Things get broken
I thought we'd manage
But words left unspoken
Left us so brittle
There was so little left to give
06 Macro (04:03)
Overflowing senses
Heightened awareness
I hear my blood flow
I feel its caress
Whispering cosmos
Talking right to me
Unlimited, endless
God breathing through me
See the microcosm
In macro vision
Our bodies moving
With pure precision
One universal celebration
One evolution
One creation
Thundering rhythm
Pounding within me
Driving me onwards
Forcing me to see
Clear and enlightening
Right there before me
Brilliantly shining
Intricate beauty
See the microcosm
In macro vision
Our bodies moving
With pure precision
One universal celebration
One evolution
One creation
11 Lilian (04:49)
Oh Lilian
Look what you've done
You've stripped my heart
Ripped it apart
In the name of fun
Oh Lilian
I'm a poor man's son
And precious jewels
Weren't found in schools
Where I came from
Pain and misery
Always hit the spot
Knowing you can't lose
What you haven't got
Oh Lilian
I should have run
I should have known
Each dress you own
Is a loaded gun
Oh Lilian
Oh Lilian
I need protection
I hear your voice
And any choice I had is gone
Oh Lilian
Once I'd begun
I couldn't stop
Till every drop
Of blood was sung
Pain and misery
Always hit the spot
Knowing you can't lose
What you haven't got
Oh Lilian
Look what you've done
You stripped my heart
Ripped it apart
In the name of fun
Oh Lillian
Oh Lillian
Oh Lillian
Oh Lillian
12 The Darkest Star (06:55)
Oh you sad one
Playing the Angel
Isn’t so easy where you’re from
Oh you wild one
Devil’s companion
You won’t stay satisfied for long
I don’t want you to change anything you do
I don’t want you to be someone else for me
Oh you dark one
Eternal outsider
Caught in the spider’s web you’ve spun
Oh you blind one
Gentle and kind one
Seeing the world as a loaded gun
I don’t want you to change anything you do
I don’t want you to be someone else for me
Stay as you are the darkest star
Shining for me
Majestically
I don’t want you to change anything you do
I don’t want you to be someone else for me
Carico i commenti... con calma
Altre recensioni
Di AR (Anonima Recensori)
Le prime note del nuovo lavoro annunciano un ritorno alle origini, un pezzo equilibrato ed al tempo stesso semplice e geniale.
onorarе il misterioso fascino che a distanza di 25 anni ancora avvolge questa band immortale e i suoi devoti.
Di ma3x
"I Depeche Mode mi hanno sempre fatto 'cagare'... ma questo album è un buon disco."
"È ruvido, sporco al punto giusto... le cover hard dei vari Manson e soci gli hanno messo un po' di pepe al culo."
Di Torre Ste
La prima traccia deve catturare l’attenzione dell’ascoltatore, e questa canzone ci riesce in pieno.
‘Precious’ è un po' la nuova ‘Enjoy The Silence’, stesso mordente, stessa malinconia, stesso minimalismo, ma nello stesso tempo luminosa come non poche.
Di Giordyboy
"PAIN AND SUFFERING IN VARIOUS TEMPOS" sintetizza perfettamente l'essenza dell'album.
"Playing The Angel è un 'Violator' moderno, più complicato e più scuro."
Di slyde81
Una strofa elegante e cupa che esplode in un ritornello che richiama i Nine Inch Nails.
Rispetto al passato, i tre sopravvissuti alle intemperie della vita da star hanno ancora qualcosa da dire.
