Depeche Mode’s Latest Some Of Band’s Best

If nothing else, Depeche Mode is defiantly contrary. Back when guitars were all the rage, they stayed stubbornly electronic. Now that machines are the next big thing, the band mixes in more hard guitar chords into “Ultra” than it’s had for years.

The result is a deft, stirring album containing some of the band’s best songs, with the hits “It’s No Good” and “Barrel of a Gun” among them.

“Sister of Night” could be about either a woman or a drug. “Useless,” “It’s No Good” and “Barrel of a Gun” speak of betrayal, broken friendships, broken relationships, broken lives.

Yet it all ends with the uplifting “Insight,” where the singer has a flash of clarity and something is learned through all the damage and heartache. If you want to buy Gore and Gahan’s line that they just happened to write this album at this critical juncture in the band’s life - well, be my guest.

But they shouldn’t shy from that. In an era when so much music comes from manufactured angst, the band’s real-life dramas have given a genuine spark to its work that has been missing since “Black Celebration.”