Heavy Metal Machines

The Pumpkins are back with their unique brand of grunge-meets-metal music.

Smashing Pumpkins are known for their unique brand of grunge-meets-metal music and this album is an affirmation of their style.

The album has a large number of songs, which cover everything in their repertoire. Though hard-core fans might be disappointed by the lack of any really loud music, most of the tracks should compensate adequately in their lyrics and their strong instrumentals.

The first side has some terrific numbers in "Heavy Metal Machine", "I Of The Mourning" and "The Sacred And The Profane", all of which combine good riffs with some great drumming.

The flip side too has a few good numbers like the cool "Age Of Innocence" and the mellifluous "Wound". The others tend to range from decent to downright vague. Vocalist Billy Corgan also tends to overdo it sometimes and is irritating instead of experimental.

The album is worth listening too and is quite a good meeting ground for fans of Nirvana and heavy rock. Don't expect anything too original, though!

This article was first published on03 Oct 2000.