Depeche Mode – Exciter

The finest DM album by far and away. Also their most electronic album from their entire discography, when all their others albums are more rock orientated or 80's style synth pop. This one in comparison sounds more futuristic, and deep.
If you are not a DM fan, this is the album to go for.

P. S: ''Dream on'' is one of my favorite tracks of all times and all styles of music. It is an intense and deep energetic masterpiece of a track like no other, causing strong emotions.

I'm a bit divided on my opinion on this album because it didn’t fulfill my expectations of it, but I learned not to expect anything from Depeche Mode, as they like to surprise us in everything they make. Anyway, I find some of Gahan’s best vocal works so far in songs like When The Body Speaks and Goodnight Lovers. I also like Dream On, which came out as a single. It’s not as dark and gloomy as other albums from the band, but overall if you ask me how many times I've heard this album so far, I would like to say many times, but I would be lying. Exciter doesn't excite me like Violator or Ultra.

As a massive DM fan, I've never fallen in love with Exciter. And it's kinda just dawned on me, 18 years later, as to why.

Back in 2001, I was 22 years of age. I had grown up with DM, especially during my teenage years where I became obsessed with the band and bought all their albums.

As a 22-year-old, I loved contemporary music as well as the 80's bands I grew up enjoying. So I was a big fan of brand new acts such as Ladytron.

Anyone who's heard early Ladytron can tell you, they were heavily influenced by the early 80's UK synth-pop sound. Not just Depeche Mode, but The Human League etc.

So, after following Depeche Mode for what felt like a lifetime (all the way up to the redemptive Ultra), I guess I was expecting DM to embrace this new youthful interest in the early 80's synth pop sound.

Instead, we got Exciter. The polar opposite of what bands like Ladytron were doing (obviously, in retrospect, Martin was never going to make a Vince Clarke sounding album).

But time has not altered my perception. I've tried listening to Exciter again, even as recently as a few months ago. But I really can't find much pleasure in it. It just drags along, it's impossible to get excited when a song ends and you know what's coming next (think of A Question Of Time leading into Stripped).

Ironically, my favourite track on this album is the appropriately titled "Comatose".

This album was disappointing and i was not a fan at that time when it came out
However the remixed version of FREELOVE was awesome and i bought the cd and became fan since then.

The album is lame and i dont like the electronic tone of the album. Boring

This is where their exploitation of "Violator" riffs truly began to drag. Although "Exciter" is no less than good an album, a brave step away from the rock-ish sound firmly established in "Songs of Faith and Devotion" and "Ultra", a milestone record each.

As a whole, however, "Exciter" don't really gel - the presence of Mark Bell handling production duties saves a great deal giving Depeche a breath of fresh calm but the predominantly ear-pleasant, smooth, pulsating night music vibe still don't save it from relying on clichés; the opener "Dream On" and "The Sweetest Condition" - the latter being the obvious, and rather weak rewrite of "The Sweetest Perfection"). "Breathe" is also a bore - musically nice but lyrically not far from "The Things You Said" if you listen closely. "I Feel Loved" is an obvious choice for one of the album's singles but again, something about it, be it the lyrics or the thinness of the song affect it from being the dance floor killer track it should have been. The most unbearable song here is "The Dead of Night" - deceptively rough and appealing on first listen (again, a slight rewrite of "I Feel You", echoing some of Primal Scream) but generally a tweak-and-twirl dirge that desperately tries to sound kinky.

The common theme being that of "love" is understandable after the turmoil the band have been through previously, but re-appearing in the songs' titles/lyrics pushed Depeche further down the pathos, keeping them forever stuck in their lamenting/spiritual comfort zone ("Playing the Angel", "Sounds Of the Universe", "Delta Machine" and "Spirit" all suffer in various tempos for the very same reason).

A slightly mellow album, but none-the-less classic. I loved this album when it came out, and still do. I don't mind the mellow moments here, it doesnt bother me because I always knew DM would return to their electronic roots, which they did eventually on their latest album 'Sounds Of the Universe', which is excellent by the way.

My favorite track here is 'When The Body Speaks', but also love 'I Am You', 'Dream On', 'Freelove'... the whole album is great!

On first hearing Exciter upon its release back in 2001, I thought Depeche Mode had totally lost the plot. The atmospherics, the dramatics and the energy of the younger Depeche Mode was nowhere to be found and I what once knew as the sound of Depeche Mode had been replaced by quirky blips, twisted synths and severely tightened and dried out minimalistic beats that were so slow paced my feet barely even ed any beats at all.

DM had died a cruel death at the hands of Mark Bell, without the guidance of Alan Wilder, so I thought. But, songs like Dream On, Dead Of Night, I Feel Loved and I Am You kept me coming back to Exciter, time and again and every time the album reached its end, there would always be one more reason I never heard before, to get me to come back to listen to Exciter, again.

What finally pushed me into "I love Exciter" territory was the stunning live performance of Good Night Lovers on the Touring The Angel dvd. After watching the heart warming finale between those 2 grown men in front of that massive crowd, I immediately played Exciter and suddenly, as cliched as that sounds, it all made a whole lot of sense. Like Depeche Mode, Exciter just keeps getting better and better as it gets older.