Depeche Mode - Ultra

Ultra should not exist. By 1995 Alan Wilder had left, Dave Gahan had nearly died, and the band that made Violator looked finished. What emerged in April 1997 was the darkest and most fragile record in the catalog, and one of its most quietly beautiful.

Produced by Tim Simenon of Bomb the Bass, Ultra reaches in several directions at once. "Barrel of a Gun" opens with a lurching, distorted swagger that sounds like nothing else in the discography. "It's No Good" is pure synth-pop menace, "Useless" leans toward rock, and "Home" is Martin Gore's finest lead vocal, a string-drenched confession that closes side one's emotional argument. Two short instrumentals, "Uselink" and "Jazz Thieves," give the record space to breathe, which it badly needs.

Where Songs of Faith and Devotion was a band pulling itself apart in public, Ultra is the sound of what was left afterward, patched back together with care. Its standing has only grown as the nineties run of Depeche Mode albums has been reassessed.

This 2025 Sony Legacy reissue presents the album on a single LP in a gatefold jacket, lacquer cut by Levi Seitz at Black Belt Mastering and pressed at Memphis Record Pressing. The one studio album Depeche Mode fans had to wait years for, finally back in print.