Smashing Pumpkins
Zeitgeist

THE REVIEW

I begin by saying that I have never been a staunch fan of the band in question, but I have still greatly appreciated some albums (among which Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness surely stands out, which I still consider among the essential albums of the 90s) and I was very curious to listen to this "Zeitgeist", considering the reunion after nearly 7 years of absence.
I was very skeptical about the quality of the album, given Corgan's latest indecent projects, but after reading a positive review I thought: "Well, they're still the Smashing Pumpkins; even if the album isn't great, there will always be three or four interesting songs, let's give it a try." Unfortunately, I had placed too much trust in this historic band because this "Zeitgeist" is the most inane, monotonous, and fake thing I've listened to in years. Not a single song was worth saving!!!!!

From the opener "Doomsday clock" to the concluding "Pomp and Circumstances", it is a torture for the poor ears of the listener; a voice made even more camp than it was by fey choruses scattered here and there like parsley throughout the album and on top of that, buzzing guitars overdubbed 3000 times to create a psychedelic effect. Better for you to go farming, dear Smashing Pumpkins, if you're short on cash, rather than fool all your fans. It's pointless to fill an album with thousands of effects and some guitar licks if the songs aren't there, don't exist, and it's like listening to nothing for over an hour, not a single idea or damn brilliant riff that gives you chills. What happened to songs like "Zero" or "Bullet with Butterfly Wings"? The Smashing Pumpkins of yesteryear aren't even a shadow of what they were, and it just bothers me to see all these bands that no longer have anything musically to say and reunite only out of hunger, having burned all the billions they had on experimental drugs we can't even imagine. When a band reunites after 7 years, I repeat 7 years of absence, one might think what kind of genius they have concocted to come back so suddenly, but unfortunately, it's all business, no one thinks about the ears of the poor unsuspecting listeners who will listen to this crap, deluded into thinking they are facing one of the year's albums. It just makes me cry thinking about how many excellent bands in the world, busting their butts to write songs with a capital S, don't even have a budget contract with an independent label, while labels still give room to these four money-driven idiots who think of everything except creating a product with a soul, but unfortunately the Smashing Pumpkins, despite producing crap albums, guarantee a certain number of copies to a record label, an emerging group does not.

Anyway, this is a strong candidate for the golden palm for trash of the year, I doubt another album will be able to surpass it, though never say never ever.