Smashing Pumpkins - Zeitgeist

Seven years, one band and one solo album later, Billy Corgan's resurrected Smashing Pumpkins are back, and thankfully they've lost none of their ability to surprise and delight. The spine-chilling metal workout of 7 Shades of Black proves that Corgan has lost none of his bite, and the delicate intensity of Bleeding the Orchid is simply one of the best songs to have ever carried the SP name. On an album of highlights, Starz is the other clear standout; a vintage Pumpkins composition that boasts some incredible production that looks to the past whilst sounding mercilessly futuristic. United States is the ten-minute centrepiece that broods and builds before shredding really fucking hard, whilst Bring the Light counterpoints Corgan's cultural criticisms with a joyously upbeat vocal and a solo that will take your face off. Pomp and Circumstances rounds things out with the kind of daring, expansive romanticism that separates the Pumpkins from everyone else. A great achievement. [Jay Shukla]