Smashing Pumpkins evince the romantic sonic pummel of their early work on their twelfth studio album, 2024's Aghori Mhori Mei. Much the same could be said of 2023's Atum, which was itself a spiritual sequel to both 1995's Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and 2000's MACHINA: The Machines of God. Yet, where Atum was an unwieldy three-disc production that explored an array of sounds from guitar rock to dreamlike synthscapes, Aghori Mhori Mei is an enticingly sinewy listen at ten songs. While not directly connected to any of the band's past recordings, the album's intimations to Hinduism, Greek mythology, and classic horror cinema combined with the guitar-heavy atmosphere certainly evokes classic productions like Gish and Siamese Dream. Perhaps some of the feeling of a return to the Pumpkins' core sound is the presence of original members drummer Jimmy Chamberlin and guitarist James Iha; the latter returned to the fold in 2018. Gone this time is guitarist Jeff Schroeder, who ended his surprisingly long 17-year tenure with the band in 2023. While this is actually Iha and Chamberlin's fourth album since reuniting with singer/guitarist Billy Corgan, it is the first to feel like a complete return to the Zeppelin-esque guitar majesty that drove their initial efforts. This is true even as Corgan has long embraced a more Teutonic, grayscale version of the group's gothy, psychedelic rock. That said, much of Aghori Mhori Mei sounds a heckuva lot like classic Smashing Pumpkins with searing guitar riffs and roaring melodies delivered in Corgan's distinctive style; his vocals move from wistful coos to throaty sneers in a heartbeat. Tracks like "Edin," "Pentagrams," and "Sighommi" crackle with a dark rock magic, their anthemic melodies spinning on the knife's edge of the band's electric guitar wallop. Equally engaging, cuts like "Who Goes There" and "Goeth the Fall" summon the same kind of bittersweet and cinematic pop grandeur of fan favorite songs like "Today," "Tonight, Tonight," and "1979." Ever the goth poet, Corgan's lyrics often sound (in a good way) like he's cribbing lines he half-remembers from a book of occult esoterica. It's an endearing quality, one that pulls at your emotional inner teenager and conjures images of a younger Corgan scribbling florid verse in notebooks to later burn in the heat of the Smashing Pumpkins' rock flame. It's a history he seems to invoke on "Goeth the Fall," singing "Salvation builds that pyre/'Tis plunder for the kids." With Aghori Mhori Mei, Corgan and the Smashing Pumpkins have made an album for those grown-up kids, their fans; a rock & roll pyre lit with myth and memory.
- Matt Collar - allmusic.com
