“Memento Mori” is Depeche Mode’s 15th album and one of their darkest. A Latin phrase meaning “remember that you must die.” The name of the album is understandable.  

They started working on this album during the height of the COVID pandemic and long before Andy “Fletch” Fletcher’s passing in 2022. Fletch was one of the band’s core members, leaving Dave Gahan and Martin Gore to carry on. While I hope not, they are in their 60s now, and I get the feeling listening to this that this could be their last.

After 2017’s Spirit (which could have been their – excellent – last album), it seems that Gahan and Gore may have decided to finish with this. 

It is full of the feeling of death, to be honest. Depeche Mode has been there before (“Death is on the Windscreen,” “Enjoy the Silence,” etc.) This isn’t a pop album.

It is not easily accessible, except for “Ghosts Again,” which ranks as one of their best singles. However, seeing the video of just the two of them… what is left of Depeche Mode… feels sad. As they sing in the song, “Time is fleeting.”

But at just over 50 minutes, it again shows that a 75-minute album isn’t, please, oh God, necessary. When this album plays, it will repeat without me even noticing.

The opener, “My Cosmos is Mine,” sets the tone. But for recognizing Gahan’s vocals, this sounds like a Nine Inch Nails track (as do a few others). It is all very industrial, low, with the lyric: “No rain, no clouds, no pain, no shrouds, No final breaths, no senseless deaths.” i.e., hey, fun!

Dave Gahan’s vocals are as vibrant and powerful as ever, capturing the essence of Depeche Mode’s dark, introspective lyrics. 

On the closer, “Speak to Me”, it pulls at your heartstrings. “I will disappoint you, I will let you down, I need to know, You’re here with me, Turn it all around.”

Dave Gahan sounds like he so, so means it. The album then closes. And that’s it.

This is one of Depeche Mode’s finest albums, completed in the worst of circumstances. 

I really hope it isn’t.

8/10

Chris Garrod, April 1, 2023