KEY POINTS:
Billy Corgan is at his arrogant best in the liner notes of the Smashing Pumpkin's new album. It's only a small detail but the line, "Performed artfully by Jimmy Chamberlain: Drums / Billy Corgan: All the rest." is telling.
While his arrogance is galling, Zeitgeist, the first album
by the band in seven years, is proof that control freak Corgan is, and always has been, the Smashing Pumpkins after all.
Let's face it, he's always had a high opinion of himself, but it's hard to hold it against a bloke who was the mastermind behind three of the 90s' best and most enduring albums - Gish, Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.
The Pumpkins, made up of Corgan, Chamberlain, bass player D'Arcy Wretzky, and guitarist James Iha, officially split in 2000 following the release of the patchy Machina/The Machines of God.
Since then Corgan has released an album as Zwan (a band including Chamberlain) and synth-based solo album, TheFutureEmbrace. Also, since the break-up there's been much mud-slinging between the Pumpkins - Corgan blames Iha for breaking up the band, rah, rah, rah - so it's no surprise Corgan and Chamberlain (who's an animal on drums) are the only original members on Zeigeist.
The shortening of Corgan and Chamberlain's names to BC/JC, like the way AC/DC is written, is an indication of the direction this incarnation of the Pumpkins is headed. There's a heavy metal mongrel, a down-tuned predominance and deathly fuzz to much of Zeitgeist that harks back to the raw riffing of Bury Me and I Am One from 1991.
Zeitgeist's nine-minute centrepiece, United States, is a convulsing revolutionary rocker that pummels on relentlessly; opener Doomsday Clock is a slow sludgey stalker; and first single Tarantula soars and screams.
Lyrically he uses his trademark whine to document the world's wrong-doings, but it's musically where Zeitgeist vents best, and if anyone knows how to throw a musical tanty it's Corgan.
Yes, Zeitgeist is pompous and bombastic in places, yet there's an unbridled ferocity to the playing that you don't often get from big rock bands nowadays and for that Billy, we thank you.
It's not all raging though. The flamboyance of Queen comes through on Bring the Light; Neverlost is a delicate ditty; and on Starz, which has a delightful, head bobbing chug to it, at precisely 2m56sec there's a guitar hero moment of War of the Worlds-size proportions. It's no surprise the song was produced by Roy Thomas Baker, the man who co-produced Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody.
Sometimes Corgan overdoes it, adding unnecessary bits, like the Tears for Fears-synth on For God and Country, and the high-pitched "ow" in United States deflates an otherwise epic song. Overall though, while there are quieter moments, the Pumpkins have never sounded more aggressive. He might be up himself, but Corgan is hanging tough.
Label: Reprise
Verdict: The triumphant return of the Billy Corgan band