Playing the devil.

We're sorry to leave you with this item, but we feel duty-bound to warn you of anything you might be caught unawares by. Apparently the band (or, at least three-fourths of the band) responsible for such synth-goth-pop masterpieces as A Broken Frame, Black Celebration, Music for the Masses and Violator, the last of which was released in 1989, are insisting on releasing another record. Honestly, we kind of thought Dave Gahan was dead. Certainly we thought, after some unsuccessful post-Violator records and overdoses, Depeche Mode was.

Look, we adore Depeche Mode. They made us want to lay a pipeline when the other kids were busy rolling up their Cavariccis. But, Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore recently so eloquently said, "At this point, the Rolling Stones have been sucking longer than they've been rocking," and we don't want that to happen to bands we, to put it in words, to write it down, are sacred and holy to us. Not that the Rolling Stones and Depeche Mode are on the same level. They're certainly not. But, listen Dave, Martin and the other one, y'all created some truly fine melodies and some fucked-up yet totally relatable lyrics that shaped our youth. You, in your own totally electronic way, rocked. Now, try walking in our shoes, and see if you can understand why we just can get enough. We promise to strangelove you if you drop what you're doing and see the world in our eyes.