OK Fellow Sputters—
It’s been years since I’ve last done one of these, and it’s certainly the first since I’ve been a staffer, so welcome to the first official blog post for “Neek’s 1st Listen”!
As a reminder for those new to this long-dormant series, this closer to a stream-of-consciousness series of rants that flow from my very very tired brain edit-free onto the page the very first time I hear the album in question. So please forgive my ridiculous comparisons and questionable turns of phrase.
THE SMASHING PUMPKINS
Aghori Mhori Mei
Full disclosure:
The Smashing Pumpkins are one of my favorite bands, and while I was an apologist for their post-breakup era a good long while, the most recent run of albums left me completely cold. I didn’t even bother checking ATUM: Act III, and this is someone who ranked all 200-something of their songs in 2018. But after skimming Johnny’s excellent review and peeping the opening track, Edin I decided it was about time to finally break out this blog feature (and all the formatting fun that comes with it).
Without further ado…
“Edin”:
Johnny’s line about Tool and Kyuss is spot on; these fuckin riffs are buttery but sharply wielded. Corgan’s vocals kinda shatter the fun—even on his better moments in these late albums his performance sounds AI-generated. You could predict his cadence by just reading the lyrics. But he’s always been effective at riding along the instrumentation. My least favorite bit so far is that “uplifting guitar interlude” around the 3min mark, it kinda sounds like it belongs on a Boston track. In this softer, more expansive second half, it definitely sounds a lot like Oceania (in the mystical lyrical stuff too). It’s got a snappy chorus too, damn, and the freewheeling instrumentation. Man these riffs feel like they could just keep looping into oblivion, the slow fade out doesn’t feel quite right. 9/10
“Pentagrams”:
I like this wonky, witchy guitar line, but it sounds like a Machina interlude. And of course it opens into the cheesy Corgan voice. The guitars feel huge even in these uplifting choruses, their prominence and Chamberlin actually getting to play so far are a huge win for this record. It’s definitely more of a back-to-basics kind of sound, like an elaboration of what SHINY was trying to do when they got back together. But anyway, this song is really good. I wish it kept up its momentum better and it sounds even more latter-day Pumpkins than the opener, but everything is there to remind me why I liked them so much up until their most recent reunion. Woah that stadium guitar sound is kinda unique for them, can’t remember them having that “Guitar Hero” of a solo, and Chamberlin just carries this whole thing on his back. Both of these tracks feel like the first half is a false wind-up that fully goes off only after it’s restarted. 8/10
“Sighommi”:
Oh wow ok, that’s something. It’s a pretty catchy riff, but again Corgan’s vox are taking me nowhere. The backing vocals though are far more subtle than I’m used to on a Pumpkins track, and it sells a lot of what I think this is trying to sell? This is the shortest track on the album, so maybe it’ll make a good groovy single should this album prove to have any sort of pulse in the charts. I was a bit apprehensive at first, but this is another winner for me. It’s the good kind of weird. 8/10
“Pentecost”:
More witch-synths, and more soaring guitar lines. It’s definitely prettier and less aggravating, but it’s not too far from the feathery filler that plagued their last triple-album. There’s an airy musical theater thing going on with the orchestra here that’s making it hard for me to buy the emotion Corgan’s trying so hard to sell me. 6/10
“War Dreams of Itself”:
m/ m/ m/ hell yeah dude we shreddin’ over here. This feels like it’s aiming for the doomy apocalypse vibe of Machina but the sing-along stylings of current-era Corgan are undercutting the real stomp. It’s kinda rough that the best moments on this record so far are directly correlated with whether Corgan is singing over them or not. Still, this is a pretty great modern Pumpkins cut. 7/10
“Who Goes There”:
Erggggg is it mandatory that we have at least three of these things on every Pumpkins album no matter how short? I will say that the guitar is nice and syrupy (there’s almost a country-ish panorama to it), which is helping me to buy more cheese than usual. But ughhhhhh those ridiculous synths overpower everything in the middle, and they don’t really go away after that. 5/10
“999”:
Is this the third track in this album’s “Satan Trilogy” or something? I will say the way this one’s ominous opening smashes into the guitar in an extremely satisfying way. Aww yeah it’s a really great riff too, I’m on board. Not to keep going on about the vocals, but I’m glad he’s at least giving the musicianship more space this time around, I wonder if it was a conscious effort, but I doubt his ego would allow him to clue in his vocal instincts being past their prime. It’s kind of funny hearing the Smashing Pumpkins returning to their shoegazey density (at least to some degree) in the context of all the sadboi bedroom gaze that’s been coming out since COVID. It’s a shame that the song’s momentum never really goes anywhere. 8/10
“Goeth the Fall”:
And here’s another cheeseball track. It’s been like this since Zeitgeist, chill Pumpkins and heavy Pumpkins are so sonically disparate and they almost never bleed into each other. When a Pumpkins song like this starts, you know exactly where it’s going—nowhere. At least on this album, so far, the vibeier tunes are far more bearable than they’ve been in years. 6/10
“Sicarus”:
Lmao and here’s the other side of the coin. Heavy riffs, spacey vocal effects, and Chamberlin doing some fucky stuff on the drums. So far, this is the most obvious attempt to recreate their old sound, an ethereal chorus from Gish, a Mellon Collie-level show of guitar force, and the cold calculation of Machina’s most furious cuts. If I’m name-dropping too many albums, it’s because that’s how it feels listening to “Sickarus.” 6/10
“Murnau”:
Aw man, the closer can’t be a stinker too, can it? I don’t love where this piano ballad is going—and oh dear god it gets even worse. This is the sort of bombast Corgan and Co. haven’t been able to deliver in years, sounding closer to standing in line at Disneyland than an orchestral display of awe. But I’ll admit, it’s kinda pretty sometimes, and it’s fun that the band still stretches their wings to play around with dumb shit like this. 5/10
OVERALL:
On Aghori Mhori Mei the Pumpkins are very well-tuned into their rock side, and any attempt to break out of it on here was almost completely disappointing. Still, I’m just amazed this is as good as it was, even if the closing run was a letdown. Just having new Pumpkins tracks I know I’m gonna be coming back to again feels like a miracle in 2024.
1. Edin: 9/10
2. Pentagrams: 8
3. Sighommi: 8
4.Pentecost: 6
5. War Dreams of Itself: 7
6. Who Goes There: 5
7. 999: 8
8. Goeth the Fall: 6
9. Sicarus: 6
10. Murnau: 5
1st LISTEN AVG: 68/10 = 3.4/5
Actual Score: 3.5/5
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Sicarus and Goeth the Fall both had their charms, but not enough for a first listen (;
08.11.24
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