MACHINA/The Machines of God (CD - 2000)

Additional personnel: Mike Garson (piano).

MACHINA: THE MACHINES OF GOD was nominated for the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Recording Package.

Any record called MACHINA/The Machines of God couldn't be a pure rock album. The title suggests this is a concept album, which are at least a little progressive. As it happens, MACHINA is a lot progressive. Though it's damn near impossible to figure out the story line, the album plays like a concept album, with each track floating into the next, winding up with an album artier than Adore. That's not a liability, since the Smashing Pumpkins were always arty, yet Billy Corgan was very clever in camouflaging his artiness. "The Everlasting Gaze" rocks more overtly than anything on Adore, and the storybook-styled artwork deliberately evokes memories of Mellon Collie. Enthusiasts will find moments to admire throughout MACHINA, but ultimately, they might be disappointed with a record that crosses Mellon Collie with Adore without relying on the strengths of either. MACHINA appears to be ornately straightforward, yet as it progresses, it becomes increasingly insular. By the time it gets to "Heavy Metal Machine," designed as the record's crushing centerpiece, its weaknesses become apparent. "Heavy Metal Machine" should be a brutal, bruising experience, yet it's toothless, processed within an inch of its life. It becomes clear that the chief strength of the album is production. Not once does MACHINA ever feel like the work of a band; it feels as if it was painstakingly assembled by Corgan and Flood. The Smashing Pumpkins have always been Corgan's band, but they've never sounded like a solo vehicle the way that they do here. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

On Smashing Pumpkins' fifth studio album, prodigal drummer Jimmy Chamberlain was brought back into the fold as bassist D'Arcy left and was replaced by Hole's Melissa Auf der Maur. Just as the band underwent personnel changes, so did its music. Head Pumpkin Billy Corgan retreated from the scaled-down ambiance of ADORE, instead choosing to reunite with MELLON COLLIE co-producer Flood in a move that merged the band's early '90s crunch with the sterile sheen of late-'90s industrial rock.

Topically, Corgan incorporates plenty of religious and perils-of-fame imagery. He declares himself as a rock messiah within the swirling miasma of "Heavy Metal Machine" and seeks to find redemption in an unrequited relationship on the keening dirge "Crying Tree of Mercury." Although songs such as "The Everlasting Gaze" and "The Imploding Voice" grind along with NIN-like efficiency, Corgan still provides plenty of pleasantly melodic moments. "Try, Try, Try," "The Sacred and Profane," and "Wound" find the nasally frontman putting together ethereal sounding pop songs propelled by gentle rhythms and dreamy electronic nuances. minimize