Wow, this new Smashing Pumpkins album is really. . .generic

[TVC15]

In the same way that bands like Nickelback can be labeled a watered-down, generic Pearl Jam, and Coldplay a shiticized, boring Radiohead, the new Smashing Pumpkins album could pretty much be sold in a paperbag brown-colored package with the words Smashing Pumpkins Album written on it in Sharpie.

The guitars sound the same on way too many of the songs.  The texture, production, distortion, much of the time even the strumming patterns are too similar for their own good.  For example, upon hearing the first song, Doomsday Clock, Tre thought he was hearing Tarantula, the first single that has been bouncing around for a few weeks.

The album is a gray waste.  It all sounds the same.  The lyrics that I could make out on first listen were, well, true to the Pumpkins (that's not a compliment).

Pumpkins bomba.  This is going to be scoring the equivalent of 60-70 around the board, maybe a bit more in cases where the reviewers hate Corgan (which is a justified position).

Now we get to sit back and watch DIablos delude himself.  I am counting the days until he says something fundamentally distinguished mentally-challenged like OMG THIS IS AS GOOD AS SIAMESE DREAM! 

[Mr. Gundam]

God, Diablos is such a fanboy. I was just like him (probably worse!) from 1991-2000, but I was also an adolescent at the time. I cherish those years and look back at them fondly. I remember seeing them during th Siamese Dream tour in 1993, I remember driving down to Portland and up to Vancouver to see them on the Machina tour, I remember sleeping outside a record store in Portland, OR all night for a free in-store performance, and I will always remember my whirlwind trip to Chicago for the final show. But, this is not the same band.

I'm flying down San Francisco to see them at the end of July, and I'll pick up Zeitgeist when it comes out, but I don't expect much. It's pretty obvious to everyone other than the uber-rabid fanbase that this is a ploy to make some money.

[DJ_Tet]

and it becomes clear as crystal why you want diablos back...that didn't take long 

[BlackMage]

It's pretty obvious to everyone other than the uber-rabid fanbase that this is a ploy to make some money.

I thought that's why people wanted to be rockstars in the first place... besides the chicks.. and the drugs

[Mr. Gundam]

It's pretty obvious to everyone other than the uber-rabid fanbase that this is a ploy to make some money.

I thought that's why people wanted to be rockstars in the first place... besides the chicks.. and the drugs

Well, yeah. It is a job and you do expected to get paid, but this Pumpkins 2.0 doesn't feel genuine to me one bit.

[TVC15]

It's pretty obvious to everyone other than the uber-rabid fanbase that this is a ploy to make some money.

Yeah, the album feels extremely "safe."  I imagine there will be many singles because the album is loaded with uptempo, generic rock songs with very mid-90s guitars.  

[Mr. Gundam]

So they're attempting to cash-in on people who grew up in the 90's (like me!) by revisiting the sound and making them feel nostalgiac?

I'm sure I'll find something to like in the album, but I'm not excited about it like I was back in the day. I'll just head on down to the record store on release and pick it up. In the past, I would've found a way to talk some record store clerk into selling it to me early.

[Tauntaun]

yeah I had heard it was a pretty bland album, oh well 

[Error Macro]

It's pretty damning when people are saying that "Tarantula" is the best song on the album.  That is the one that has a similarity to My Chemical Romance (who I actually like, shhhh) and maybe a little Green Day thrown in there, right?  Anyway, it doesn't sound like there was much effort put into this thing.  Maybe those decrying Corgan as a money grubbing wanker aren't too far off the mark.  He knows this is going to be eaten up by the fans regardless.  And what's with the bullshit about having all those exclusive bonus tracks at different retailers?  Surely whatever label this is being put out on didn't force Corgan to consent to that.