Album review: The Smashing Pumpkins – Aghori Mhori Mei

Since the reunion of The Smashing Pumpkins’ central founding trio – Billy Corgan, James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlin – the band have been positively prolific, traversing tentative first forays, unexpected creative detours and epic indulgences. Nothing has been simple or obvious, but that’s what we want, isn’t it? Or, at least, it’s what we should expect.

In 2018, we had the Rick Rubin-produced Shiny And Oh So Bright, Vol. 1, the further volumes of which have yet to be realised, and likely never will be. With Billy subsequently reneging on that record’s ‘album’ status, given that its eight tracks were made in a way quite unlike any other SP offering, they released 2020’s Cyr, hastily declared their first reunion album proper, with its synth-pop stylings sounding more in tune with Billy’s 2005 solo album, TheFutureEmbrace. For good and bad, listeners were superserved by last year’s ATUM: A Rock Opera In Three Acts, which boasted 33 tracks introduced via Billy’s Thirty Three podcast.

There’s been a lot of music, then, but less in the way of consensus about which of these efforts hit the bullseye. Some say all. Some say none. Many suggest the band have never made a bad album ever.

By comparison, Aghori Mhori Mei has the makings of a more straightforward proposition. There are no singles in advance to telegraph the route of travel or to prejudice opinion. No big claims by its authors, nor scathing denouncements of previous offerings as a way to leverage expectations. Just the promise of 10 tracks that clock in at just under 45 minutes.

Given that Billy seems to have made his peace with giving the people what they want, based on the sublime setlists delivered during their recent UK tour with Weezer, many have dared to dream that this offering might unify opinion – offering something more direct, less ponderous, easier to love and with one ear to what fans love about this band.

Anyone with those expectations is going to be pleasantly surprised by Aghori Mhori Mei, which feels like the true return, on record, of this iteration of The Smashing Pumpkins. Confidently delivered and teeming with ideas, it flies by as much because of its urgency as its cohesion. From the moment opener Edin unveils its proggy stylings, to when Murnau’s beautiful orchestral groove fades out, this is a journey in which every step feels important in getting to the next.

Given how memorable so many of these tunes are, particularly Who Goes There and Goeth The Fall, the decision not to issue any of them ahead of Aghori Mhori Mei’s release feels an odd one, but makes the reveal that much more impactful. Speaking of which, one of the more exciting elements here are the riffs, which on tracks like Sighommi and War Dreams Of Itself feature some of the heaviest they’ve unleashed in years. They’re excitable and invigorated to boot, as opposed to the try-hard chuggery from, say, 2007’s Zeitgeist, which felt like the instigation of a pissing contest with the younger guitar-toting pretenders.

If there’s something that doesn’t work quite as well, it’s a criticism that could be levelled at the last few Pumpkins albums – that excellent ideas and compositions can be undermined by some curious production, particularly where Billy’s voice is concerned. Take Pentecost, for example: a song that’s both dynamic and atmospheric, but with a vocal that’s polished in a way that brings the singer’s frailties to the fore, as a performer rather than in service to the emotion of the material in question. At its worst, it sounds more AI than BC.

Perhaps these decisions are made to draw a line, sonically, between the past and the present, like adopting a different handwriting style for more recent diary entries. Whatever the reason, it’s a consistent quibble, albeit one in this instance that’s insufficient to derail what is an excellent album that suggests intriguing possibilities going forward.

Verdict: 4/5

For fans of: Alice In Chains, Garbage, Tool

Aghori Mhori Mei is out now via Martha’s Music/Thirty Tigers