Deus Ex Pumpkina

When The Smashing Pumpkins released their last album Adore it confused some of the fans. Here was frontman Billy Corgan dressed like a Cenobyte from Hellraiser (think 'Uncle Fester guest-stars in The Matrix') and the premiere hit Ava Adore was a slow and sinister electro-grind with a pulsing dance beat. Then you get the album and discover that most of it is laid-back, almost "folksy" in places. Adore's opening song To Sheila even has a faint plucked banjo in the background...

I give you this background info because it's important that Machina: the Machines of God be taken entirely out of that context. This isn't a step forward from Adore. It isn't a step back to the days of Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness. Instead, it's a complete sidestep away from anything I've ever heard The Smashing Pumpkins do.

For starters, Machina is a guitar album, injected with a constant driving rhythm. Gone are the manic-depressive highs and lows of Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness. The guitars are also tuned the same throughout each song. Billy Corgan still has the same voice, but it's comfortably settled into a melodic sound with a slight buzzsaw edge. Previous works had him sometimes downright squealing or shrieking into a wall of fuzzed guitars, but here on Machina it's more under control.

Corgan's skill for album production really shows in his recent efforts. On Machina he's helped by studio veterans Alan Moulder and Flood, and the sound is downright atmospheric. There's a rich, vibrant level of bass with just the right amount of hollowness to it. Guitars don't hit the feedback levels you heard on Mellon Collie and the songs all pace themselves comfortably; some are a bit slower than the rest, some a bit faster, but no extremes. Machina is definitely all about the middle ground for the group. Blue Skies Bring Tears is probably the only exception as it's the slowest of them all, possessed with a leaden slowness that brings you down.

That's not to say Machina is boring, nor does it mean the songs all blend together. Instead, the album has a feeling of unity; it's like the Smashing Pumpkins have found their sonic center, and they're taking you along with them on the journey. Meanwhile, the lyrics are gorgeous. Like The Cure, they contain a poetic quality that captivates you. Here's a sample from Raindrops & Sunshowers:

"...I send my echo out/to get your love without
obscured reflections of my love/
rain falls on everyone/the same old rain,
and I'm just trying to walk with you between the raindrops/
I'll save a prayer for you/so lost and longing to/
be dragged thru dirty streets/wrapped up in clean white sheets/
and if you think they'll watch you now/you should know they won't"

Have the Pumpkins found happiness and love? Hardly. There are some genuine emotions here, and they come across clearer now that anger isn't a focal point. There's still angst aplenty. The Everlasting Gaze is a death-obsessed album-opener, and I of the Mourning is miserably locked away in fear of the end...of what? The interpretation is up to you, whether the protagonist will die, or just his feelings of love. The Crying Tree of Mercury slips desperately away beneath a tide of noise, crying out for love on its way down for the third time. With Every Light almost seems out of place, with its ray of happiness parting the gloom and momentarily dissipating the once-darkened clouds.

The Sacred and the Profane is just beautiful music. It's one of the slower tunes, and seems to be extroverted, with its repeated refrain "you're all a part of me now". I also love Heavy Metal Machine, a heavy grind with guitars that plod relentlessly through the track as the Pumpkins lay it down. Interestingly enough, the guitars remind me of Ministry's Lava (from the album FilthPig). No real purpose to it, just a heavy song you can groove to. Try, Try, Try is the most different-sounding song on the album, with its delicately-twanged guitars.

This Time has a way of washing over you; constant waves of sound punctuated by brief pulses between measures. Very wombadelic, like Curve or My Bloody Valentine The Imploding Voice is also an excellent track all-around; it's melodic and catchy and its guitar line resembles Collective Soul's Gel. In Glass and the Ghost Children the guitars ring out like bells, chiming at first, then crashing into a scattered tinkling sound that quickly gathers back together. This introduction almost upstages the vocals in the first half of the song.

Remember Tonight, Tonight, the opener to Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness? Right before the vocals kick in, the guitars have a building rhythm that seems to pop up again in Machina's closing track Age of Innocence

As for the rest of the tracks? Well, you're just going to have to discover them for yourself! I'd hate to spoil it for you. :-D

If you really liked the early Smashing Pumpkins work, like Siamese Dream, you'll probably enjoy this album. If Mellon Collie... was your favorite, don't worry; if you loved its thrashy intensity, Machina still has its heavy moments. If you loved Mellon Collie... for its light fare, consider this just a step closer to hard rock. If you liked Adore but didn't want to see The Smashing Pumpkins spend too much time in the lightweight brooding phase, again this is a nice change. Even though my favorite Pumpkins album has been Mellon Collie... that may change; listening to this album puts me in a good mood. Try driving with this in the deck during a rainfall; it seems to be just the thing to augment the feeling...

One interesting note: the booklet is filled with that Byzantine-wood-cut look you see on the cover, and the "pages" look like ancient paper. I don't know if it's deliberate or a result of the materials they used, but the booklet smells like varnish and old paint. It reminds me of Madonna's Like a Prayer, which was scented with incense and perfume...

TRACKS:
1.)The Everlasting Gaze
2.)Raindrops Sunshowers
3.)Stand Inside Your Love
4.)I of the Mourning
5.)The Sacred and the Profane
6.)Try, Try, Try
7.)Heavy Metal Machine
8.)This Time
9.)The Imploding Voice
10.)Glass & the Ghost Children
11.)Wound
12.)The Crying Tree of Mercury
13.)With Every Light
14.)Blue Skies Bring Tears
15.)Age of Innocence
(Imported version contains bonus track "Speed Kills")