Machina: The Machines of God
With the doubters hovering round his band following the rock-is-dead pronouncement that preceded the flawed electronic dabblings ofAdore,Machinafinds Billy Corgan desperate to prove everyone, not least himself, wrong. On their fifth album, the Pumpkins attempt to reclaim the higher ground they dominated with the peerlessSiamese Dreamand the sprawling 28-track opusMellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. As a result, they hit the ground running onMachina, exploding into life with "The Everlasting Gaze" and its firestorm of guitars and heavy metaphysical thunder. There are some quintessential Pumpkins moments here, notably "Stand Inside Your Love," which soars away on a spiraling guitar solo, and "Try, Try, Try," which taps into Corgan's ever-present melancholy. At 73 minutes long,Machinaoverstays its welcome, beginning to flag, ironically, at the self-aggrandizing "Heavy Metal Machine." No matter--the Pumpkins have made their point with brutal grace.--Mike Pattenden