“You know I’m not dead” announces Billy Corgan on the opening track, “The Everlasting Gaze”. This, the Pumpkins’ fifth album, is their heaviest hitter since Siamese Dream. Machina: The Machines Of God is dark and brooding but still passionate and soulful.
Their last album, Adore, seemed off the beaten path and was a real miss. Smashing Pumpkins heard the cry and went back to basics: more rock. Adore was full of hollow love whereas Machina seems to be about the feelings deep within that can only be shouted about, not whispered. “Stand Inside Your Love” is darkly passionate. “I will breathe/ for the both of us/ travel the world/ traverse the skies/ your home is here/ within my heart.”
“The Sacred And Profane”
are full of great lyrics that walk like poetry and kick like heavy metal. Speaking of heavy metal, I don’t get “Heavy Metal Machine”. It’s more of an “Iron Man” wanna be, but it isn’t even close to reaching those lofty heights. The thundering drums of “Glass And The Ghost Children” opens what is a distraught sound and a journey down a path wrought with heroin and pain.
“The Imploding Voice” is my favorite track and as close as the Smashing Pumpkins get to an anthem on this record. The riff is great and quite memorable. “With Every Light” marches along like most of the Brit rock anthems you’ll hear today. “Age Of Innocence” soars through the synth without being overcooked. The restraint Corgan employed to ensure pure rocking is one of the album’s most enjoyable aspects.
Billy Corgan just seems happier these days. And that is great to know. What is even better is that he isn’t going to just get all cheery and write crappy pop tunes just because he’s feeling so chipper and in love. “This is the sound I’ve been making my whole life,” states Corgan in “The Crying Tree Of Mercury”. I’m thankful he’s gone back to the original blueprint.
+ rae gun
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