SMASHING PUMPKINS have announced their new album “Aghori Mhori Mei”, out August 2. The announcement comes amidst the band’s highly successful international tour, which just wrapped its 20-plus-date European leg and will begin its North American run of shows later this month. Fans can also purchase a deluxe version which includes limited-edition autograph versions of “Aghori Mhori Mei” from Madame Zuzu’s.
SMASHING PUMPKINS‘ thirteenth collection to date, “Aghori Mhori Mei” continues the prolific hot streak frontman Billy Corgan kicked off a decade ago. Just last year, the band released the third and final act of their sprawling and adventurous rock opera “Atum”, a sequel to 1995’s “Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness” and 2000’s “Machina/The Machines Of God”. While some artists might take a breather after an acclaimed and ambitious triple album, Corgan went straight back into the studio to write, produce, and record this new 10-track body of work. As vital and vibrant a songwriter as ever, Corgan had quickly promised a 2024 follow-up on the horizon, which serves as the latest twist in Corgan‘s careful commitment to how his art is presented. The band completed the recording of “Aghori Mhori Mei” amidst an expansive touring schedule across the last few years.
“In the writing of this new album I became intrigued with the well-worn axiom, ‘you can’t go home again’,” Corgan remarks. “Which I have found personally to be true in form but thought well, what if we tried anyway? Not so much in looking backwards with sentimentality but rather as a means to move forward; to see if in the balance of success and failure that our ways of making music circa 1990-1996 would still inspire something revelatory.”
“Aghori Mhori Mei” track listing:
01. Edin
02. Pentagrams
03. Sighommi
04. Pentecost
05. War Dreams Of Itself
06. Who Goes There
07. 999
08. Goeth The Fall
09. Sicarus
10. Murnau
Earlier this week, the band announced a multi-city Latin American fall tour, which will see the band play to their fans across South and Latin America for the first time in nearly a decade. In addition to a combination of recent arena and headline festival dates this summer in Europe and upcoming North American stadium performances with GREEN DAY, as part of “The Saviors Tour”, the band recently added solo arena bookings across the country spanning July through September. Plus, they will close out Osheaga Festival as one of the headlining acts in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on August 3.
The band’s 23-date European run of shows concluded with a stellar headlining performance in Greece, with previous stops across Europe, with stops in the U.K., France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, and more. With their busiest touring schedule and some of their biggest performances in over a decade, the band’s run of shows across the pond have packed in venues night after night, set the tone for the remainder of their year on the road, and garnered significant praise from Consequence, Rolling Stone Germany and Louder, who claimed “Corgan‘s invitation to go for a ride is still as thrilling as it was 30 years ago,” and sees the band playing a mix of their greatest hits, deep cuts, new tracks, and dynamic covers with hints of new musical style brought in by the band’s new touring guitarist Kiki Wong.
SMASHING PUMPKINS‘ jam-packed 2024 follows years where they have balanced their time furiously at work in the studio and crisscrossing the globe. Before hitting Europe this summer, the PUMPKINS had spent 2022 on the “Spirits On Fire” tour with JANE’S ADDICTION and 2023 on their very own “The World Is A Vampire” run. Of those earlier tours, NME raved “it’s indisputable that the band are responsible for many of the ’90s’ best rock songs, and this is as good as you’re going to hear them. “SMASHING PUMPKINS proved they are still one of America’s most interesting — sometimes befuddling, but never boring — musical groups.” Miami New Times attested, “The band took the audience back in time to when alternative music was the mainstream, and the idea of browsing on your phone during a fantastic concert was bad sci-fi satire.”
Photo credit: Jason Renaud