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100

Alternative Press

Some of the most engaging music of his career. [Aug 2005, p.172]

The Guardian

The unthinkable has been achieved: a Billy Corgan album for anyone who always hated Billy Corgan.

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Los Angeles Times

There's a moment or two of alarm and urgency, but less of the rage that colored the Pumpkins' music. In its place, Corgan summons a liturgical grandeur that makes this an almost religious embrace. [19 Jun 2005]

musicOMH.com

If you like Billy Corgan for his knack of writing a radio-friendly song with a heavy dose of angst, then you may not enjoy TheFutureEmbrace. Yet give the man credit for moving on and signalling a clear break with his past.

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Mojo

Corgan allows a surprisingly vulnerable side to appear. [Jul 2005, p.96]

The Onion (A.V. Club)

TheFutureEmbrace is a bit colder than what's expected of Corgan, especially after Zwan's celebratory Mary Star Of The Sea, and it goes without saying that he's handed in his trendsetter badge. But the fact remains that he's a pop showman, and regardless of the vehicle, he's going to continue writing transcendent sing-along rock songs from the heart.

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Billboard

While the lyrics are more introspective and the music more electronic than what we've come to expect from the Pumpkins or his most recent project, Zwan, thankfully Corgan's distinctive vocals and grungy guitar riffs are ubiquitous.

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New Musical Express

The thing that's not missing here is songs. [18 Jun 2005]

Pitchfork

So, forgive Corgan his infinite lyrical badness, but know that infinity's a lot to forgive.

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Q Magazine

There's nothing as heroic as Smashing Pumpkins' Tonight Tonight, but Now (And Then) is a surprisingly successful attempt at emotion. [Jul 2005, p.113]

Dot Music

Corgan is slowly swamped by the style he's adopted.

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All Music Guide

Musically, it's closest to Adore, yet it's a distant cousin: if that album hinted at '80s synth rock and goth, this re-creates the spirit and sound of 1986, right down to the robotic pulse of the rhythms, the cold, slick surface of the production, and the brooding, self-absorbed atmosphere.

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Stylus Magazine

What The Future Embrace lacks in terms of consistency, it makes up for with the feeling that Corgan has turned a corner, that his return to musical credibility is well underway, and isn’t nearly as inconceivable as it was one year ago.

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Neumu.net

The gear is buffed to such a productional sheen that its every sound seems like a reflective surface, the compositional complexity leading to an album as confusing -- and, ultimately, distancing -- as a hall of mirrors.

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Rolling Stone

Future mostly sounds like a bunch of so-so Smashing Pumpkins songs, stripped of everything except Corgan's adenoidal vocals, and then set to a chorus of synths and electronic drumbeats.

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E! Online

For the most part, the vitality is gone.

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Under The Radar

Only on the more solid "rock" tracks does he get it right. [#10, p.109]

Entertainment Weekly

Flim-flammy beats, tinny guitars, and Corgan's nasal moan predominate as he mopes like it's 1984 and his mom forgot to renew his Sisters of Mercy fanclub membership. [24 Jun 2005, p.164]

Blender

We're left with the immutable Corgan sans ambition: his narrow whine, melodies not quite predictable but dull anyway and a misty worldview with collegiate airs. [Jul 2005, p.116]

Uncut

Not hopeless, but hopelessly self-indulgent. [Jul 2005, p.94]

Drowned In Sound

It sounds like Corgan wanted to make a classic eighties 4AD-style shoegazing record, but instead of offering us something swirling and beautiful, we end up with an experience that is simply flat and grey.

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Village Voice

Corgan does his level best to make the whole affair as joyless as possible.

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cokemachineglow

The tragedy here is not that this is a mid-nineties retread, though, as much as Corgan’s songwriting is Machina level unmemorable.

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PopMatters

It's not that any of the songs are horrible; it's just that they are so shamelessly middle-of-the-road that you become sickened by the ambivalence that they instill.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 7.4 (out of 10) based on 74 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Leandro R gave it a9:
muito bom!

Fernando R gave it a9:
Just beatiful

squall gave it a10:
oo. this album is one of the best albums ive ever listned to. but this wasnt my first opinion. to be honest, ive always been a huge pumpkins fan, since gish. i heard he had a solo album but i never got around to getting up and looking for it. well one day my sister called me up and said that she just bought 2 tickets to see billy in hollywood. we went, on the way she played me the future embrace cd. i was like. hmm. billy sounds awesome, but im not sure if this is all that great. we got there, and when billy walked out on stage it was incredible. you can tell he knew what he was doing. this is the same man whjo created to awesome band, the smashing pumpkins. when he started playing and i saw that all that "synth" and "electronica" was actually comming out of his guitr and not 10 sets of keyboards, i was flabbergasted. this is the real deal! this is amazing, this is BRAND NEW! this has never been done before, this is absolutly incredible music. those disrespecting the machina album have no idea what he was doing in that album. machina and future embrace are my favorite cds o this day. people said machina was all "synth" blah blah blah, this is new, individual style music with a new rock and roll sound. with a meaning! does anyone relize what machina was about? does anyone realize there was a concept to the entire album? well there was and its incredible. im not going to ruin it for you but ill give u a clue. glass is billy. we are the ghost children. the machines of god were a band. june is a woman. billy is not stupid, he knows what hes doing. something that was never done before, something thats not fake and done over and over again. this is the future embrace. it wil grow on you like a really awesome tumour- that wont kill you.

Alan R gave it a0:
One of the greatest CD's Corgan has ever produced solo!

Paul S gave it a10:
One of the greatest CD's Corgan has ever produced!

Allan gave it a3:
Minus A100, DIA and to Love Somebody, pointless dribble. Wow, what a mess, Bill.

No Name gave it an8:
Some say that if it wasn't for his fame, no one would even pay this album attention. I say, that if it wasn't for his fame, no one would be nearly as harsh on this album. The fact of the matter is that it is pretty good, but we hold him up to himself in comparison, so it looks 'lame.' Well, what doesn't look lame when compared to Siamese Dream, Melancholy, and Adore? Only the best stuff out there, that's what! Unfortunately, this is not the best. But it is still well worth listening to multiple times. Forget it's Billy Corgan for a minute and let the star bashing go, 'cause it's probably better than you let yourself think.

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