Demon of Nick Cave Above, Depeche Mode.

Outed yesterday as a so-called In-Studio Collage 2012 Dave Gahan's Depeche Mode are, quite categorically, back. They're next year to return with an as yet untitled umpteenth studio LP, and have penned in a solitary UK date down The O2 (May 28th) although this here's a preliminary worm into how it may sound. Purportedly entitled Angel Of Love, whilst Martin Gore (above) may perceive this and that – that being that record aforesaid – to sound like a violent cross-pollination of Violator and Songs of Faith and Devotion the most discernible elements to differentiate these few minutes from, say, absolutely anything on Sounds of the Universe are thus: 1) forget angels of love looming over the perpetually tormented Gahan; if his voice be any indication then it's the demon of Nick Cave that's here bedevilling his surely withered spirit, and 2) there's more than a faint whiff of Nina Simone's Feeling Good to its typically cataclysmic build to an otherwise gently disappointing chorus. It's far from their most immediate reintroduction, and yet there's a guttural magnetism to its baleful languor. Irregardless of first impressions, it'll doubtless be the beast the electro-rock stalwarts' acolyte legions have been searching for since '09. Gouge away...

Tickets for the London date, quite coincidentally I assure you, go on sale tomorrow.