When a band has been around for nearly three decades, as Depeche Mode have, they are treading a slippery slope. In addition to the near impossibility of matching the vitality of their youth, older bands have to work within their genres at the risk of sounding anachronistic. For guys like Dylan, this isn’t much of a problem. His genre is timeless. Depeche Mode, however, have been in danger of sounding dated since 1990. Fortunately, their most recent album incorporates modern elements into the classic Depeche Mode sound. The result sounds like Depeche Mode while being unmistakably contemporary.

Sounds of the Universe may be a little grandiose for the title of a Depeche Mode album. “Sounds of 1980′s Alienated White Middle Class Youth” might be more apropos, but that wouldn’t read so well on the press release. For most of their  career, Depeche Mode’s lyrics have straddled the bleak and sinister. On Sounds of the Universe, the trio sounds much more positive and affirmative. They haven’t done a thematic 180, but on songs like “Peace” it seems like the torment the band has been exorcising through there music for the last 25 years has subsided a bit. I dare say they sound content.

Sounds of the Universe probably won’t make a lot of “best-of 2009″ lists, but it’s a testament to the skill and talent of these elder-statesmen of morbid synth-pop. The songs, as always, are immaculately constructed, the production is excellent and the lyrics, while occasionally eye-rollingly overwrought or simplistic, are exactly what you’d hope for from these guys.