Depeche Mode shimmers in sadness

On the back of the new Depeche Mode CD, ''Playing the Angel," there are the words, ''Pain and suffering in various tempos." Yes, there's a reason why some detractors, and even fans, prefer to call the long-running British band ''Depressed Mode."

Still, at its best, Depeche Mode has always found, to borrow a line from Kurt Cobain, ''the comfort in being sad," the stubborn, shimmering beauty in desolation. And ''Playing the Angel" is Depeche Mode at its best, its most complete album since 1990's ''Violator," which yielded such hits as ''Personal Jesus," ''Enjoy the Silence," and ''Policy of Truth."

Since that commercial highpoint, it has seemed as if the band has struggled to again reach that peak. ''Songs of Faith and Devotion," released in 1993, was a solid effort, but it also showed the group reacting to the ascension of Nirvana and Pearl Jam as well as the slow, sad descent of singer Dave Gahan into the drugs and madness.

Gahan's been clean for several years, and here he sounds strong and confident. Gone is the reticence and unevenness that undermined the band's last two albums, 1997's ''Ultra" and 2001's ''Exciter" -- and that's apparent from the impassioned opener, ''A Pain That I'm Used To." Kicking off with layered distortion and feedback, Gahan's vocals offer a quieter, but no less tense counterpoint, setting a mood that never lets up.

Even better is the suspenseful ''John the Revelator," inspired by the old traditional blues song of the same name. Even as it retains some biblical references, it's a different song. And it isn't hard to surmise to whom Martin Gore might be referring in such accusatory lyrics as:

''He's a smooth operator / It's time we cut him down to size / Take him by the hand / And put him on the stand / Let us hear his alibis."

Certainly, this isn't an album concerned only with suffering and recrimination. In ''Nothing's Impossible" there's a hint of hopefulness as Gahan sings, ''If you believe in love at first sight, nothing's impossible," over a wash of electronic textures.

In the same song, Gahan also says, ''I know in my heart that'll I have to change," and that could even be interpreted as a reference to the heroin addiction that interrupted and nearly ended his life in the mid-1990s.

Even after 25 tumultuous years, Depeche Mode sounds fresh and renewed -- and it's doing it without mimicking My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, or any other hot band du jour. Through 12 challenging songs, ''Playing the Angel," succeeds and satisfies because it proves that Depeche Mode is again completely comfortable sounding like Depeche Mode.