Songs of Faith and Devotion

Album Summary

Songs of Faith and Devotion is the eighth studio album by the English electronic music band Depeche Mode. It was first released on 22 March 1993 in the United Kingdom by Mute Records and a day later in the United States by Sire Records and Reprise Records. The album incorporated a more aggressive, darker rock-oriented tone than its predecessor Violator (1990), largely influenced by the emerging alternative rock and grunge scenes in the United States. Upon its release, Songs of Faith and Devotion reached number one in several countries, and became the first Depeche Mode album to debut atop the charts in both the UK and the US. It became one of the band's best-selling albums, with sales over 5,000,000 worldwide. To support the album, Depeche Mode embarked on the fourteen-month-long two-legged Devotional Tour, the largest tour they had undertaken to date. Live recordings from the tour were released on the concert video Devotional and live album Songs of Faith and Devotion Live, both released in late 1993. A fan posted the album in its entirety online a few months before the album's official release, representing one of the first music leaks in the music industry. The album was recorded while lead singer Dave Gahan was suffering from a heroin addiction, and the album and subsequent tour exacerbated growing tensions and difficulties within the band, prompting Alan Wilder to quit Depeche Mode in June 1995. This album is the final one with Wilder as a band member, and also the final Depeche Mode album to be recorded as a quartet. The ordeal had exhausted their creative output following the enormous success they had enjoyed with Violator, leading to rumours and media speculation that the band would split. Depeche Mode subsequently recovered from the experience, and released Ultra in 1997.

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