• Record Label: Columbia
  • Release Date: Mar 26, 2013
Metascore
65

Generally favorable reviews - based on 33 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 33
  2. Negative: 1 out of 33
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  1. Mar 21, 2013
    100
    Depeche Mode have dropped the best album of their career.
  2. 91
    Delta Machine is the strongest album the group has put out this century, brushing up against the locked-in grooves of the group’s late-‘80s crest that began with 1984’s Some Great Reward and ran through the revolutionary classic Violator in 1990.
  3. Mar 22, 2013
    90
    New album Delta Machine is about more than simple fulfillment--going one further to actively excite, as it lays the template for some of the band’s most vigorous, energetic material in 15 years.
  4. 85
    Ultimately, Delta Machine is a record full of terrific moments, reminding you of why you fell in love with Depeche Mode in the first place.
  5. Q Magazine
    Apr 9, 2013
    80
    They're still here and they're still very good. [May 2013, p.93]
  6. Mar 28, 2013
    80
    While it could have been clipped of a couple of tracks, overall the devil is in the glitchy, Fever-ish new details--and Dave has rarely sounded better.
  7. Mar 25, 2013
    80
    The freshness comes through in the delivery, which is as loose as electronic music permits, delivered with the bluesy rawness that frontman Dave Gahan wanted from the album.
  8. Mar 25, 2013
    80
    This isn’t a band going through the motions, it’s a band going through a violent and explosive rebirth, a return to form that’s almost unparalleled.
  9. Mar 22, 2013
    80
    In 2013, if rock is going to survive, it surely has to encompass the bleeps and beats of electro veterans who sound like the future is still catching up with them.
  10. Mar 27, 2013
    70
    The new album finds vocalist Dave Gahan and songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Martin Gore refining some familiar sounds and trying out some new wrinkles.
  11. Mar 27, 2013
    70
    While at the end of the day the formula still works, it just isn’t as fresh as it once was to demand immediate repeat listens. But Delta Machine does deserve repeat listens.
  12. Mar 26, 2013
    70
    Delta Machine is best taken as that 13-song slab, one that is a near-perfect summation of the band those skinny teenagers who regularly showed up on children’s mornings programs have grown up into.
  13. Mar 26, 2013
    70
    Delta celebrates brooding faith and slippery solace without scrimping on Depeche's trademark blackstrobe punishment.
  14. Mar 25, 2013
    70
    Delta Machine, the band's 13th album, feeds off this negative energy and winds like a snake the whole time, slithering through a well-written (ten songs from Martin Gore with three coming from Gahan) and lusciously recorded set of serpentine siren songs.
  15. Mar 25, 2013
    70
    It’s not a huge stride in a new direction, but its incorporation of new sounds into the established blueprint sounds like a band both mature and renewed.
  16. Mar 25, 2013
    70
    Another reasonably strong effort for a band that's managed to get wise without growing too old.
  17. Mar 26, 2013
    67
    Despite Gore’s lovely choirboy harmonies, ["Heaven"] feels like electro-soul dragged through quicksand. Thankfully, the rest of the album staves off such dullness with a potent combination of moody programming, focused songwriting, and subtle velocity.
  18. Apr 23, 2013
    60
    Despite many good songs on this album, you will definitely get a sense that Depeche Mode is in a holding pattern.
  19. Apr 15, 2013
    60
    Considering the odds, it shows an animated and still vigorous trio worthy of its semi-legendary status.
  20. Mojo
    Apr 9, 2013
    60
    Song titles like Soothe My Soul and The Child Inside suggest phoned-in conventionality, but there are edgy moments here. [May 2013, p.85]
  21. Uncut
    Mar 29, 2013
    60
    In spite (or maybe because) of their flaws, there's a vivid presence to tracks like "Heaven" and "My Little Universe" that fans will flock to and onlookers can't help but smile at. [May 2013, p.69]
  22. Surprises are few and what Delta Machine lacks is one big, arena-ready, fist-in-the-air synthpop stormer.
  23. Mar 21, 2013
    60
    On their 13th album, Depeche Mode are as hamstrung as ever by their refusal to admit even a chink of light into their world of gloom.... The flip side of the coin is that the austere music that accompanies all this darkness is often very beautiful.
  24. Mar 22, 2013
    55
    Depeche Mode click here slightly more often than not. [Mar-Apr 2013, p.91]
  25. Where this album tries for a harder, more adventurous sound, they’re still stuck with one leg in leather trousers.
  26. Apr 4, 2013
    50
    Depeche Mode’s biggest crime is that they're just a bit boring.
  27. Mar 28, 2013
    50
    There is not a single moment of shock or freshness on Delta Machine, and it's enormously frustrating to hear what was once a band of futurists so deeply mired in resisting change.
  28. 50
    It’s hard to imagine anyone other than extreme DM reactionaries finding anything here essential besides the abovementioned tracks [“Soft Touch / Raw Nerve” and “Soothe My Soul”], the stirring “Secret To the End,” and the mid-tempo “Broken.
  29. Oct 4, 2013
    40
    The camp is layered on thick, just as it always was, yet this time it crosses the thin line these electro pioneers once walked with ease.
  30. Mar 25, 2013
    40
    As it stands, it's another tiresome release studded with a few gems.
  31. Mar 25, 2013
    40
    It blows hot and cold.
  32. 40
    Depeche Mode's weakest album in some while.
  33. Apr 2, 2013
    34
    Depeche Mode has been an easy target for complaints of stagnancy, and, indeed, the band seemed to stop progressing in the mid-’90s like a child with a pot-a-day habit. And, Delta Machine is another example of this.
User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 125 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Negative: 6 out of 125
  1. Mar 30, 2013
    9
    it's their best album in 15 years without a doubt. the sound it's just amazing. this mix of blues, synth-pop and dark ballads mix very well.it's their best album in 15 years without a doubt. the sound it's just amazing. this mix of blues, synth-pop and dark ballads mix very well. Dave gaham voice really amaze because he really push himself Full Review »
  2. Mar 26, 2013
    8
    Delta Machine, the new album from pop-electronic titans Depeche Mode marks a strong return for the trio with dark lyrics, powerful synths andDelta Machine, the new album from pop-electronic titans Depeche Mode marks a strong return for the trio with dark lyrics, powerful synths and Martin Gore’s trademark guitar sound. Welcome to My World kicks things off with cinematic sound, a huge chorus and industrial thumps, and deep lyrics sung by vocalist, Grahan.

    Angel, My Little Universe, Should be Higher, Alone and Soothe My Soul continue the album’s dark theme, and give Grahan a chance to perfect his crooning, aggressive voice. The album’s first single, Heaven, is melodic and atmosphere and slows down the pace.

    Alongside a few brooding industrial tracks, the album also showcases some pop-electronic sounds that are more reminiscent of the group’s early days—songs like Broken, Secret to the End (the album’s catchiest track) and Slow Touch Raw Nerve.

    Delta Machine’s final track, Goodbye, pulsates with incredible force, driven by a distinctive moody guitar riff, with the outro featuring a final clash of sounds and energy.

    This may not be an album that will welcome in new listeners, but it is sure to please old and new fans alike.
    Full Review »
  3. Apr 6, 2013
    10
    EXCELLENT. As a fan since 1987, I had become rather unimpressed with DM from "Exciter" onwards. The three albums which precede Delta MachineEXCELLENT. As a fan since 1987, I had become rather unimpressed with DM from "Exciter" onwards. The three albums which precede Delta Machine had some interesting moments, but were very inconsistent and rather "by the numbers" Depeche Mode. Delta Machine puts all that to rights.

    It's a record which pushes the boundaries of the band in the way that "Violater" and "Faith & Devotion" did. It doesn't really sound like those records, but the willingness to take chances and genuinely experiment is what makes it comparable. Stand outs for me include "Welcome", "Alone", "Soft Touch" and perhaps surprisingly the Dave Gahan penned "Higher" and "Broken" despite its rather mediocre lyrics.

    A definite classic album which I have no doubt will be widely acknowledged as such in the years to come.
    Full Review »