Album Review: Soulsavers - The Light The Dead See

Album Rating: B+

“I can feel the presence of God occupying my intentions/In my soul, within my thoughts, and in ways too dreary to mention/These thoughts torment me; they mould and shape me/There's a man that I should be!” Deep stuff, right? Such are the kind of lyrics to be found all throughout The Light The Dead See. To their credit, the British duo known as Soulsavers have crafted a profoundly deep (but not suffocatingly so) album here thanks to the enlistment of lead vocalist/lyricist Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode. The aforementioned lyrics might seem like a facile grab at poetic authenticity, but what Gahan’s done here is present us with short confessionals dabbling in personal woes of morality, faith, regret, etc. Having been pronounced clinically deceased for six minutes in the late ‘90s and surviving a malignant bowel tumor just three years ago, it’s safe to say that Gahan has come close to - and, well, technically experienced - death, and his trauma is written all over The Light The Dead See. His contemplative and bleak lyrics are foregrounded as the journey unfolds, and his vocal work is just as good as it was back in the heyday of Depeche Mode.