

On the follow-up to 1987's Music for the Masses, Depeche Mode made good on their promise of super-sized synth-pop, as bold as it is moody. "World in My Eyes" opens the album with a slinky hint of techno and a sweeping chorus, and "Enjoy the Silence" and "Policy of Truth" deliver some of the band's brightest melodies to date, smuggling rock guitars under the cover of dance beats. The swaggering, country-infused "Personal Jesus," meanwhile, plays out their leather-clad fantasies of sin and redemption with impeccable style.