Memento Mori (Depeche Mode album)

On 26 May 2022, Andy Fletcher unexpectedly died, with the cause of death later being revealed to be aortic dissection. Although songwriting and demo work on the album began prior to Fletcher's death, Dave Gahan stated in an interview with NME that Fletcher did not record nor hear any material for the album.[2]

In the same NME interview, Martin Gore also explained how Richard Butler ended up co-writing seven songs for the album. In April 2020, Butler reached out to Gore to write songs together. He sent some lyrics, Gore added the music, and they went back and forth.

Gore said the songs were too good to be a side project, and so Depeche Mode put them on the album although Butler was never going to join the band.

"Martin sent me about six songs, and Richard Butler was singing on a few of them," Gahan recalled. "I was like, '...The fuck is this?' Then Martin explained that during COVID he and Richard had written some songs together. I don’t care who wrote them, but they were some great songs.”[7]

In August 2022, a photo of Gore and Gahan in the studio was shared on social media, indicating they were in the studio working on new material.[8][9]

Gore and Gahan discussing their upcoming album at the press conference in Berlin.

On 4 October 2022, the band held a press conference in Berlin, announcing their upcoming album titled Memento Mori and a world tour to go along with it.[10] The album is scheduled to be released "towards the end of March" 2023,[11] which will coincide with the tour starting on 23 March 2023.[12]

"We started work on this project early in the pandemic, and its themes were directly inspired by that time. After Fletch's passing, we decided to continue as we're sure this is what he would have wanted, and that has really given the project an extra level of meaning."

— Martin Gore on the creating process of the album, Live Nation Entertainment[10]

A description of the album appeared on the band's official website: "The album's 12 tracks chart a vast expansion of moods and textures, from its ominous opening to its closing resolve—running the gamut from paranoia and obsession to catharsis and joy, and hitting myriad points between". The full tracklist of 12 songs was also announced. On Volt Magazin's website, it was confirmed that "Dave Gahan and Martin Gore said there were five finished tracks that didn't make it onto the long player."[13]

On 11 February 2023, the band debuted "Ghosts Again" live in Sanremo, Italy. On 14 February 2023, "Wagging Tongue" was debuted live in La Plaine-Saint-Denis, France. On 19 February 2023, "My Favourite Stranger" was debuted live in Munich, Germany at a special fan event.

In the UK Memento Mori debuted at No. 2 with 17,867 sales and 15,209 coming from physical format.[14] In the US, the album debuted and peaked at No. 14, selling 32,000 equivalent album units in its opening week, marking the first time since 1987's Music for the Masses that the band failed to break into the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart.[15] In France the album debuted at No. 1 with 28,416 equivalent sales.[16]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	8.1/10[17]
Metacritic	85/100[18]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
The Arts Desk	[19]
Clash	8/10[20]
The Guardian	[21]
The Independent	[22]
The Line of Best Fit	9/10[23]
NME	[24]
Pitchfork	7.1/10[25]
Record Collector	[26]
Rolling Stone	[27]

Memento Mori was acclaimed by critics on its release. The album received a score of 85 out of 100 from nineteen critics' reviews on review aggregator Metacritic, indicating "universal acclaim".[18] At AnyDecentMusic?, which collects critical reviews from more than 50 media sources, the album scored 8.1 points out of 10, based on 19 professional reviews.[17]

The Guardian gave it four out of five stars, writing "Gore's say-what-you-see lyrics are always best on the essentials of life – sex and death – and "Ghosts Again' is the pair's best single in aeons, a singalong meditation on mortality that's concise and powerful. Both are in fine voice. Gore's choirboy trills have never been richer than on 'Soul with Me', while Gahan ranges ever-restlessly from operatic to reptilian, the electro-pop Freddie Mercury. There's warmth in the album's fusion of industrial grind with delicate melody, and producer James Ford sparks a revivifying weirdness in songs such as 'My Cosmos Is Mine'. For a record preoccupied by death, its big heart bursts with life."[28]

Kory Grow of Rolling Stone praised the message of the album, stating "Acknowledging mortality defines much of Memento Mori, but it never feels heavy handed or even all that sullen. Some of the tracks even sound upbeat". He concluded, "As always with Depeche Mode, everything counts in large amounts, and on Memento Mori, the stakes feel bigger than ever."[29]

Cristina Jaleru of ABC News was also positive about the album stating "The 12 tracks are fully Depeche, fully intoxicating in sound, artistically evocative and sometimes puzzling (like the compelling but strange 'Caroline's Monkey'). The music is staring lovingly into the abyss and asking it to love it back; death is always hovering on the periphery of the sound, a grunge, industrial, rainy sound also filled with a strange kindness." and concluded. "Depeche Mode might be facing their own mortality but their power as musicians stretches into infinity."[30]

Ultimate Classic Rock praised the album, favouring it to its predecessor Spirit stating "Depeche Mode's previous album, 2017's Spirit, suffered from some ill-fitting turns toward the political. There's little of that in Memento Mori. For the most part, this is classic band territory – moody goth draped in familiar lyrical subjects, now also informed by a world-stopping pandemic", but was critical on some tracks saying "'Don't Say You Love Me' comes off like the result of a ChatGPT quest to write a Depeche Mode song, and 'Caroline's Monkey' unsuccessfully juggles too many sounds and metaphors during its four-plus minutes."[31]

Depeche Mode

• Dave Gahan
• Martin L. Gore

Additional musicians

• Marta Salogni – programming
• James Ford – programming, synthesizer (tracks 1–8, 10–12); drums, percussion (1, 3–6, 8, 10–12); guitar (4, 6, 11), strings (4, 12), pedal steel guitar (4), bass guitar (5, 11, 12)
• Davide Rossi – strings, cello, violin (3–6, 8, 10, 12)
• Desiree Hazley – violin (3–6, 8, 10, 12)
• Luanne Homzy – violin (3–6, 8, 10, 12)
• Christian Eigner – programming (8, 12)
• Peter Gordeno – programming (8)

Technical

• James Ford – production
• Marta Salogni – mixing, engineering
• Matt Colton – mastering
• Francine Perry – engineering assistance
• Grace Banks – engineer assistance
• Gregg White – engineering assistance (1, 3–6, 8, 10–12)
• Adrian Hierholzer – vocal engineering (3, 4, 11)

Artwork

• Anton Corbijn – cover, all visuals, art direction, design