ANDY JONES
True, Exciter hasn’t excited too many fan favourite lists over the years, but it is, we would argue, the last Mode album to have that unified feel that Violator and SOFAD demonstrated so successfully. It also managed to do both ‘dark’ and ‘uplifting‘ simultaneously, rewarding you with more depth and detail on every listen – all largely down to producer Mark Bell. Martin Gore was right about Bell’s ability to wrestle atmosphere from any situation, and Exciter was marked with many such excerpts of beauty. But as well as providing the darkness and light that maybe Flood and Wilder would have added on previous Depeche Mode albums, Bell gave Gahan some unexpected confidence.