Ultra
| Depeche Mode
Ultra
Ultra is the ninth studio album by English electronic music band Depeche Mode. It was released on 14 April 1997 by Mute Records. - Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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SPIN
Simenon’s pristine production (his last album was called Clear) fits Depeche Mode’s need to conceal their age in sleekness. Rather than co-opt drum’n’bass, they do what they’ve done since Violator: merge machine aesthetics and corporate machinery into a punkishly forbidding indolence.
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Rolling Stone
On Depeche Mode’s new album, Ultra, guitars are again prominent — moaning sensuously in the gently funky “Useless,” groaning darkly in the eerily driving “Barrel of a Gun,” wailing over bittersweet strings in the plaintive “Home.” Songwriter Martin Gore has plenty of dark passion to document, having endured the tsoris of singer Dave Gahan’s heroin-related suicide attempt, in 1995, and near overdose last year, as well as the recent departure of multi-instrumentalist Alan Wilder (a number of guest artists help compensate for Wilder’s absence, including former Living Colour bassist Doug Wimbish and pedal steel guitarist B.J. Cole).
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AV Club
Ultra is far from Depeche Mode's best album, but it's not the worst, either. And that should be good news to fans who feared that very thing.
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Pop Matters
At the time, Gore claimed Massive Attack as a big influence; sure enough, Ultra is full of thick, meditative grooves. The stripped-back, more modest approach suited the band's situation nearly perfectly. In terms of both music and lyrics, Ultra is wounded, confused, and contrite.
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AllMusic
Happily, Ultra turned out a winner; hooking up with Tim Simenon, longtime U.K. dance maven and producer of arty fare such as Gavin Friday's Adam 'n' Eve, Depeche delivered a strong album as a rejuvenated band.
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Sputnikmusic
That this album exists at all is an impressive feat, after all the obstacles that came Depeche Mode's way prior to its release. A few decent tracks but too many instrumentals and slow tracks unfortunately make Ultra one of the bands weakest releases.
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Doug's Reviews
ULTRA reset Depeche Mode’s status quo. It’s not quite their best album, but it’s very close. The songs that Gore wrote were, lyrically, some of the best of his career and Gahan’s resurrection told fans that the journey wasn’t over yet. It’s a dark and introspective album that is probably best listened to while driving around late at night or in the dark with headphones. Depeche Mode wasn’t dead yet.
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Dark Tourism
A rather underrated album out of the Mode's long back catalogue. Most people would name "Violator", or "Songs of Faith and Devotion" as their best ones. They're both outstanding too, no question about it, but in my view not as consistently so as "Ultra". And it is certainly the darkest – even topically it is closer to the sense of "dark" as in "dark tourism" than any other of their works.
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