In the moment that Smashing Pumpkins currently find themselves – three-quarters reunioned, confident, dare one even say comfortable – there’s joy to be heard throughout, as they turn over rocks and see what they can find. And, truly, that’s a very traditional Smashing Pumpkins way of doing things.
For the most part, it’s a Human League-like synth-pop behemoth, rich in evocative, magickal lyricism, and functions as the soundtrack to their animated YouTube series In Ashes. In short: there’s more here than meets the superficial gaze of two eyes.
The mystical imagery of phoenixes, devils and ancient kings trace a through line to the Pumpkins’ roots in the sweeping and epic, while the album’s electro-pop clarity highlights Corgan’s sharpest collection of melodies in some years.
It probably would have been better for the listener if he had condensed this, the band’s 11th studio album, into a solid 10-song single album release.
CYR, their 11th studio album, features original members James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlin, who returned to the fold in 2018. Yet even that isn’t enough to reignite a spark that, during their Nineties heyday, earned the band four consecutive platinum albums.
CYR may be a good record, but even with its overblown 20-song length it leaves the listener wanting more, given the context of this band’s capabilities.
While CYR vastly improves on its stagnant predecessor, Shiny and Oh So Bright Vol. 1/LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun., the album’s 20-song tracklist is invariably bloated, a symptom of Corgan’s unchecked ambition.
Billy Corgan delivers a sprawling double album that's as frustrating as it is ambitious.
While it may be unfair to compare everything to the peaks of their lengthy career, it is a good way of measuring what Corgan and co. are capable of ... CYR is a record that so obviously chasing mainstream appeal yet sabotages itself by being too long a self-indulgence.
The issue with CYR is that the overall album would have made a solid ten-to-twelve tracks if the song structures, melodies, and BPMs weren’t so uniform.
It would be unfair to call Cyr an uninspired album, but the Smashing Pumpkins’ appropriations of vanilla synth-rock are neither individually interesting nor a good fit for the band’s palette.
Normally, such willingness to transcend genre boundaries would be commendable, but Cyr falls flat on so many levels. Lush textures abound, but there’s barely a memorable tune present, which makes the decision to release it as a 72-minute double album hubristic in the extreme.
#44 | / | Kerrang! |