Oceania

Following the dissolution (in all senses) of the original Pumpkins line-up, Gen X figurehead Billy Corgan found himself somewhat adrift, apparently caught up in an endless cycle of tetchy interviews, onstage diatribes and underwhelming music.
For a man who wrote such ‘90s alt. rock touchstones as Gish, Siamese Dreams and Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness, this was actually quite perplexing, given that he has always possessed formidable songwriting talent. The tide quietly began to turn for Corgan when he announced the typically epic project Teargarden By Kaleidyscope, a 44-song, “new kind of album” based on the Tarot (or something). Originally the idea was that each song would be issued shortly after completion, but Corgan grew dissatisfied with the limited audience reach – and thus we have Oceania, an “album within an album”.
Corgan’s disdain for received notions of cool, and fondness for nerdy prog-rock-style “concept” records, means several of the songs here have vaguely sci-fi titles that actually make them sound like characters from Transformers (‘Quasar’, ‘Panopticon’). Nonetheless, Corgan has got his sonic mojo back and these tracks contain the kind of crushing riffs and pulverising drums that characterised Pumpkins classics like ‘Zero’ and ‘Bullet With Butterfly Wings’, not to mention the kind of scorched-earth production that always placed the Pumpkins in the same company as musical wrecking machines like Nine Inch Nails and Tool.
Underpinning all is Corgan’s gift for melody, so whether on the acoustic ballad ‘The Celestials’, psych-tinged rockers ‘Violet Rays’ and ‘My Love Is Winter’, or the nine-minute, three-part title track (which combines quiet balladry, eerie psychedelia and dreamy ambience), there’s always a quality tune to draw you in. Throw in some top-notch synth-driven numbers and you have the best Pumpkins album for years.