Violator
| Depeche Mode
Violator
Violator is the seventh studio album by English electronic music band Depeche Mode. It was first released on 19 March 1990 through Mute Recordsinternationally, and through Sire and Reprise Records in the United States. - Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Billboard
For years, songwriter, and musical mastermind Martin Gore had been exploring religion and kinky sex, and on Violator, he keeps on going. Gore name-checks Jesus on the lead single and ponders obsessive desire on most of the other eight tracks.
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Rolling Stone
Thanks to a string of hypnotizing, sexually charged singles – the cheekily gothic “Personal Jesus,” sensually serene “Enjoy the Silence,” otherworldly and bluesy “Policy of Truth” – the record quickly became the band’s best-selling LP, reaching Number Seven on Billboard and going triple platinum.
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AllMusic
In a word, stunning.
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Slant Magazine
The reason Depeche Mode’s Violator is a quintessential benchmark of pop, rock and electronic music is because it marries dance, goth-rock and synth-pop with good ol’ fashioned Motown funk and rock n’ roll so seamlessly. In fact, it could be said that Depeche Mode’s Violator violated the standard definition of popular music itself.
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Sputnikmusic
There are textures and tones that have obvious prelude in Depeche Mode’s 80’s work, primarily their 1988 effort Music for the Masses, but they’ve never congealed with such a tangible feel like they do on Violator.
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Immortal Reviews
Violator may be minimalist, but every note has a clear purpose. It's freeing, sensual, and most notably, its invigorating. It captures you in an atmosphere and it keeps you there in a sort of eidetic oblivion. Depeche Mode carved their own legacy out in Violator, setting a standard for the fusion of electronica and rock to come, all the while cementing their place as legends in music.
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John Scalzi's Whatever
As it is, Violator stands on solid ground, a much better album than Music for the Masses would have led us to expect it would be. Old Depeche fans will be thrilled that their favorite band hasn’t run dry, and if you’re not yet a “Modester,” but like the idea of being tunefully pained, this album is for you.
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The Student Playlist
But while they may have struggled for innovation since Violator, it secured Depeche Mode’s identity as a beacon of hope for the disaffected, and secured them a place in the roll call of pop music greats.
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Doug's Reviews
There is no amount of hyperbole that can overstate the quality of Violator. It is quite simply, Depeche Mode’s greatest album ever recorded and released. People may have their favorites, but they can’t argue that Violator is the best. It highlighted a band at the peak of their powers and everything has been a notch below ever since. That’s not to say that all future releases were horrible, they’re not, but no other album quite attained the level of perfection of Violator.
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PULUCHE
Overall, the album is not musically perfect or thought-provoking, but it is undeniably catchy; its ability to be both a “classic” and a “guilty pleasure” has made the album one of the greatest alternative successes to date.
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The Guardian
Violator, the pick of three new DVD-bolstered remasters, wasn't just Depeche Mode's biggest album, cementing their status as the world's first electronic stadium stars and prompting a riot at an LA record signing. It was also their best, encasing Martin Gore's favourite tropes - guilt, salvation, obsession and the virtues of keeping your mouth shut - in production as black and shiny as a beetle's shell.
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The Audiophile Man
The band’s most impressive, consistent and perfectly structured album with a suite of sublime songs that sit on the foundation of sympathetic and considerate production values. It is an astounding album and a career high among a fair few catalogue ‘highs’, it has to be said.
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everythinggonegreen
So yep, Violator is quite probably the best Depeche Mode album of all, and something of a major return to form at the time.
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Prefixmag.com
Depeche Mode’s 1990 album, Violator, is a perfect, dark, moody, and piercingly catchy pop record about sex, drugs, relationships, and God. It was, and it remains, Depeche Mode’s finest moment, where the band members found themselves on the cusp of international superstardom.
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Talk About Pop Music
With a dramatic change of direction when compared with their previous releases, chiefly down to producer Mark Ellis aka Flood (who had been an engineer on their 1985 album “Shake The Disease”), The Mode reinvented themselves, this time with a more alt-rock, band feel, whilst retaining a certain amount of electro-pop to satisfy the core of their fanbase who had worshipped them for over a decade.
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Post-Punk.com
Violator was a turning point musically for Depeche Mode, transitioning the band away from their new-wave and synth-pop origins, into something more alternative rock, which stylistically remains with the band to this day, especially live.
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Snob's Music
Just look at the tracklisting and you will see why this is consistently referred to as a 5 star album.
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Ghost Cult Magazine
Violator is a prime example of a band experimenting and searching for something novel, and from that, creating something that will stand the test of time.
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We Are Cult
Violator is truly a whole album experience whose tracks work well together in considered and well-placed synchronicity, rather than just a random collection of songs which happen to be on the same album. Listen closely to the heart-rendering strings, the profound lyrics, the startling synthesizers, the clever placement of each individual track on the album, and you can’t fail to be emotionally moved or impressed. The sweetest perfection, you might say.
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Smells Like Infinite Sadness
Violator is seen as Depeche Mode’s finest hour, and it’s not hard to see why. Every track is great. It’s proof that commercial success can align with artistic integrity on rare occasions.
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Merchants of Air
An album that has some of the most wonderful and well known songs of Depeche Mode’s career.
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