Singer Dave Gahan contributes to three of the songs on the album. And while they're not co-writes with Gore, they fit in surprisingly well with the rest of the record, and help contribute to some of the soulful depth of sound. As has become customary, there are a couple of throwaway instrumental fillers, but they're neither problematic nor distracting. Pleasant enough segues that don't mar their surrounding songs.
The band's previous effort, Playing The Angel, explored some of these same sounds and ideas. It's not that things have all of a sudden taken a drastic turn. In fact, far from it. Sounds of the Universe is perhaps the clearest bridge between their old and new worlds that we're likely to get. But the real strength of the record is that it sounds comfortably like itself. It eschews some of their previous flirtations with a guitar Rawk! sound, embraces the fact that vintage synths are once again cool, and strings together songs that, even if they don't all impress individually, collectively create a compelling and rewarding listen. Multiple, in fact.
Sounds of the Universe is easily the most consistently strong release of the band's post-Wilder output. It takes some of the glimpses of a return to form from both Exciter and Playing The Angel and retains that energy, more or less, over the length of the record. But more importantly, this record seems to play to their strengths in a way that some of the previous efforts only hinted at. Which might not be such an easy thing to do after nearly thirty years. Fortunately, Depeche Mode are beginning to, once again, make it look easy.
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