I’ve been listening to the new Depeche Mode album, but mostly on a blown iPhone headset, so I’m not prepared to share my thoughts just yet.

(Also: deadlines! Argh. Like George Foreman, they are beating me about the head and face.)

In the meantime, the LA Times writes.…

That bleak tone is frequently recaptured on their newest release, “Sounds of the Universe,” beginning with “In Chains,” a brooding seven-minute romantic melodrama that hums and crackles with electronics as singer Dave Gahan seethes: “The way you are has left me burning.” * He’s gifted at expressing desperate love, putting a gospel twist on the band’s bitter hard-drive heart.

The best of these 13 tracks** are inflamed with similar human emotion, using icy cool electronics as dramatic contrast to the feeling within “Hole to Feed,” which percolates with vintage synth effects and the twang of Martin Gore’s full-bodied acoustic guitar. It represents a harder edge than many of the pop acts inspired by Depeche Mode’s example, beginning with the Killers. “Come Back” is practically industrial rock, with fuzzy, dirty sounds and a singer again in agony. On “Little Soul,” Gahan announces: “This little voice is going to sing / I have no choice.”

I can tell you that In Chains is an instant classic….even if you’re not a huge DM fan (and why aren’t you, that’s a little weird), download it off iTunes and play it loud. Totally rocks. That guitar sounds like it’s going to electrocute someone.

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P.S. It’s actually The way you move has got me burning.

Newspapers.

The song goes:

I know you know what you’re doing to me

I know my hands will never be free

I know what it’s like to be in chains…

And who can’t relate to that?

** Actually, 21 tracks if like me you pre-ordered the album off iTunes.