Released: 2014

Genres: Alternative Rock, Synthpop

The Musiquarium’s Monuments to an Elegy Review Score: 6.5 out of 10

As the final part of the cancelled Teargarden By Kaleidoscope project, Monuments to an Elegy sees a deeper immersion into the dreamy, synthpop/alt rock hybrid sound of its predecessor Oceania, with only Jeff Schroeder surviving from the previous lineup, and Mötley Crüe’s Tommy Lee of all people playing the drums.

The piano parts of Tiberius end up sounding somewhat like Muse, with the synthesizer bits sounding more like Pinkerton era Weezer — it’s not a bad song at all, it just doesn’t sound like The Smashing Pumpkins as much as the aforementioned bands. The lead single Being Beige is another piano-driven song and is quite good. One and All (We Are) is your more typical Pumpkins songs with its crunchy guitars. The synthesizer-heavy Run2me is quite abysmal and the only bad song here, though Drum + Fife does a better job of balancing synths and guitars, as well as Monuments, Dorian and Anti-Hero.

After several lengthy Smashing Pumpkins albums (their previous shortest album was 1991’s Gish at 45 minutes), Monuments to an Elegy is refreshing at 33 minutes, making for a concise listening experience that never drags on or feels like its testing your patience.

For credit breakdowns and historic release details, view The Smashing Pumpkins on Discogs.

Back to the 2014 Album Guide or the The Smashing Pumpkins Reviews page.

Written by Brett Nippard