While most of its '80s electro-pop contemporaries have faded into semiobscurity, Depeche Mode continues to produce darkly atmospheric tracks about love, lust and death that have the vulnerability and immediacy of a shared secret. The chirps and bleeps that marked the band's debut, "Speak & Spell," gradually gave way to emotionally raw, expansive songs under the guidance of songwriter Martin Gore. After nearly 30 years, the trio—now comprising Gore, Dave Gahan and Andrew Fletcher—still imbue every aspect of its 12th studio album, "Sounds of the Universe," with imagery and sonic flourishes that make its music fresh and familiar. "Corrupt" and "Wrong" wouldn't be out of place on "Violator" or "Music for the Masses"; they possess the taut, Gothic glamour of those albums. And, Gahan, who wrote two worthy tracks ("Come Back" and "Miles Away"), handles provocative lyrics with his usual swagger. Some of the album's less successful songs—"Little Soul," for example—are also its sunniest and most languorous, and lack the dramatic tension that has been Depeche Mode's calling card. Despite the departure of Alan Wilder in 1995 and tales of intraband combustibility, "Sounds of the Universe" captures an act with enough passion and inspiration to teach the artists it has influenced a few new tricks.—Alexandra Cahill