Smashing Pumpkins: Billy Corgan (vocals, guitar); James Iha (guitar); Melissa Auf Der Maur (bass); Jimmy Chamberlain (drums).
Additional personnel: Mike Garson (piano).
MACHINA: THE MACHINES OF GOD was nominated for the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Recording Package.
On Smashing Pumpkins' fifth studio album, prodigal drummer Jimmy Chamberlain was brought back into the fold as bassist D'Arcy left and was replaced by Hole's Melissa Auf der Maur. Just as the band underwent personnel changes, so did its music. Head Pumpkin Billy Corgan retreated from the scaled-down ambiance of ADORE, instead choosing to reunite with MELLON COLLIE co-producer Flood in a move that merged the band's early '90s crunch with the sterile sheen of late-'90s industrial rock.
Topically, Corgan incorporates plenty of religious and perils-of-fame imagery. He declares himself as a rock messiah within the swirling miasma of "Heavy Metal Machine" and seeks to find redemption in an unrequited relationship on the keening dirge "Crying Tree of Mercury." Although songs such as "The Everlasting Gaze" and "The Imploding Voice" grind along with NIN-like efficiency, Corgan still provides plenty of pleasantly melodic moments. "Try, Try, Try," "The Sacred and Profane," and "Wound" find the nasally frontman putting together ethereal sounding pop songs propelled by gentle rhythms and dreamy electronic nuances.

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