Monuments to an Elegy

Background

On March 25, 2014, the band announced that they had signed a record deal with record label BMG. The band's next two albums would be part of the deal: Monuments to an Elegy and Day for Night.

On April 29, The Smashing Pumpkins' frontman Billy Corgan stated that the band had chosen the top songs for the album, and that they would be spending the following three days on drum tracking, vocal arrangements, lyrics and tweaking of the songs. Corgan described the album's planned sound as being "guitars, guitars, guitars, and more guitars; but more so on the epic side of things than say, grossly metallic."

On May 7, it was announced that Tommy Lee, founding member of Mötley Crüe, would be playing drums on all nine of the album's tracks. According to Corgan, Jeff Schroeder is currently the only person apart from himself officially in the Smashing Pumpkins, and that Mike Byrne and Nicole Fiorentino are no longer working with the group in any capacity.

On July 21, Billy Corgan indicated that recording on Monuments to an Elegy had finished. Mixing for the album commenced on August 18. The album's final release date was announced as December 9.

To the suggestion that Monuments… is "a very Smashing Pumpkins-like album", Corgan responded, "I think people are hearing an emotional quality that reminds them of something in the past. By extension, they assume I'm trying to get back there. But the truth is the opposite – I stopped trying to avoid it. I went off to have this Hermann Hesse-style spiritual journey through different sounds and subcultures. And then I came home, and allowed myself to make the music I might naturally make."

Release and promotion

The album's first single, "Being Beige", was premiered on SoundCloud on October 20. On November 4, it was revealed that the album's next single would be "One and All", and that it would be released on November 5.

On November 17, it was announced that, by preordering the album through participating record stores, you can get a free Monuments to an Elegy sampler, which includes the two previously released singles and the as-of-yet not released "Tiberius". Later that day, "Tiberius" was premiered on Vice.

On November 20, it was announced that the album's next single would be "Drum + Fife", which was released on November 21.

On December 2, one week before the physical release, the album was made available for full streaming on iTunes Radio.

The band toured in support of the album starting on November 26, with Rage Against the Machine's Brad Wilk filling in on drums and The Killers' Mark Stoermer filling in on bass, although Corgan has indicated that Wilk and Stoermer may only play at a select set of early shows in their tour.

The band promoted the album on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on December 10, 2014. They played lead single "Being Beige".

As well, music videos have been made for "Being Beige" and "Drum + Fife," with another music video for "Run2Me" announced on July 20, 2015. Billy Corgan later confirmed "Run2Me" would be the album's next single.

Reception

The album has been met with generally positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 70 out of 100, which indicates "generally favorable reviews" based on 31 reviews. DIY stated the album "...is certainly the easiest Pumpkins record to listen to since their original reformation in 2006. It acts as something of a midpoint in sound between Siamese Dream and 2003's Zwan album, Mary Star of the Sea. This brevity helps to make it such an effortless listen." Rolling Stone's Kory Grow gave the release a 3 out of 5 stars due to their "deep dive into synth pop" explaining it "is a surprise" yet it's an authentic album because of "Corgan's characteristically acid vocals".

Personnel