Album Review: THE SMASHING PUMPKINS - Shiny And Oh So Bright, Vol.1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun.

01. Knights Of Malta

02. Silvery Sometimes (Ghosts)

03. Travels

04. Solara

05. Alienation

06. Marchin' On

07.With Sympathy
08. Seek And You Shall Destroy

I would like to congratulate The Smashing Pumpkins on having the most ludicrous, pretentious, and thoroughly annoying album title of the year. What the actual fuck were they thinking?

Shiny And Oh So Bright is the closest to a reunion of the classic line-up as I think we're going to get, considering how dysfunctional the original members have always been. There's been countless feuds, drugs, meltdowns, and every cliché you can think of that would tear a band apart. Finally, we have a record featuring Billy Corgan, James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlin again. How long this version of The Smashing Pumpkins will last is anyone's guess.

Clocking in at just over 30 mins, Shiny And Oh So Bright doesn't stick around long enough to get boring or lose its way. My personal favourites are Marchin' On with its Punky aggression and dose of Metal riffs, and the Grunge-tastic Solara, which is classic Smashing Pumpkins and just what I wanted from this record. Knights of Malta and Silvery Sometimes (Ghosts) are also amazing singles that show the band at their most melodic and lyrically abstract. They remind me of the Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness era of the band without directly sounding like any songs they've put out before.

Shiny And Oh So Bright is a strong comeback album, and I hope they keep their ship afloat long enough to write an even better one in the not-too-distant future. Maybe next time D'Arcy will be involved? With this band, all bets are off.