Hourglass (Dave Gahan album)
[2] Ben Hogwood of musicOMH wrote, "Gahan, it seems, is progressing into a well-rounded, mature songwriter who plays to all his strengths, and in particular the cracked voice, and its ability to move from a confidential whisper to a rabble-rousing bellow.That doesn't mean it deserves to be ignored—two decades removed from his band's creative peak, Gahan has actually made one of the year's best-sounding electronic releases," concluding, "But when all is said and done, Hourglass simply lacks the exciting moments that got him here."[15] Al Spicer of BBC praised Gahan's vocals saying, "Covering the emotional gamut from tearful regret to sated melancholy - at times with more reverb than strictly necessary - Dave’s voice is the album’s strongest, most memorable facet; the perfect vehicle with which to acknowledge one’s sins, invoke divine protection and beseech forgiveness.Gahan’s control and masterful delivery show that years of the rock star lifestyle left no lasting damage: if anything, the slight rasp of maturity lends an air of authentic experience that his work with Depeche Mode only hinted at."[16] Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian gave a 4 star rating saying "Dave Gahan's second solo outing is reliably bleak, probing the murk of his post-heroin-addiction mind as you'd expect, but achieving a kind of magnificence, too.