After seven long years of creative drought and a couple of less-than-remarkable records to prove it, it is truly exhilarating to actually be holding a brand new Smashing Pumpkins album in my hands again! Yes indeed, the good news is that Billy Corgan has finally come to his senses and reformed the band that made us all sit up and take notice in the first place.

Even better is the news that Zeitgeist – true to the title’s literal meaning – is a great comeback record!

Without wanting to sound too harsh, Corgan’s post-Pumpkins output just wasn’t strong enough to fill the Pumpkins’ shoes, but one has to make allowances for the fact that Corgan felt a desperate need to break away from the band.

Not only to retrace his musical steps, as he seems to have done here, but also to discard some of the demons he endured along the path to success. What is most evident from the very first track here (Doomsday Clock) is that Corgan has been having recurring Siamese Dreams. The 1993 classic album’s barbed rock sound can be felt all over Zeitgeist, along with equally strong references to its 1995 follow-up, Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness, the latter often regarded as Corgan’s foremost masterpiece. Zeitgeist may not be as cohesive an album, but it certainly proves that Corgan, backed by original drummer Jimmy Chamberlain is back on track!

CD COURTESY OF EXOTIQUE