Having sold millions of albums and sold out thousands of shows worldwide over the last three decades, Depeche Mode have become one of the most recognizable acts to remain…well…unrecognizable. Hot on the heels of their latest album, Sounds of the Universe, comes yet another documentary about the band, The Dark Progression.
While many documentaries of this type focus in on one era of the band’s career, The Dark Progression attempts to tackle nearly the entire career of the band in one fell swoop. The film makers know their Depeche Mode pretty well, so if you are new into the band and are looking to find a reasonably back story then this is the way to go. While its not as personal or as in-depth as the documentaries that accompany the re-issues of the band’s entire catalog from a couple of years ago, they do hit all the major points. Most of the contributors here are producers, engineers, and rock journalists that covered or worked with or around the band during specific eras and their takes on various things (particularly the band’s early years and the loss of the principal songwriter right after their debut album was released) are interesting to hear and often very believable. The extras include extended interview footage and biographies for each contributor (a tremendously helpful thing when trying to decide whether a documentary of this type is “legit” or not).
While it may not have been authorized by Mute Records or Depeche Mode, The Dark Progression gets it right and I doubt anyone would take up issue with the content here. As I said, new Depeche Mode fans should pick this up and fill themselves in (it will also give you some solid ideas on what albums to purchase next). Longtime fans probably know most of this anyway so it’s not really intended for them in my opinion.
Reviewed by Mark Fisher
