if you're telling a story, via whatever medium, and you want to use religious imagery to get a point across, that's one thing. i might question the relevancy of using religious imagery in this day and age, but i'm not going to react poorly to an analogy; i'd be missing the point. the thermals wrote a concept record about escaping the united states (very atwoodian) that used a lot of religious imagery, and i actually think it was one of the best records released that decade.
and, if you get preachy i'll turn you off immediately. no patience for proselytization.
it's the "personal journey" or "walking with god" type songs that get into that grey area for me, because i have to actually listen to them a few times before i can decide if i actually think there's something universal in them or if it's just religious nonsense that i don't have time for.
i'm not a close-minded person, and i'll give a lot of things more time than it deserves. but, at the end of the day, i find religious writing to be ignorant, and i'm not going to listen to something i perceive as unintelligent. but, with somebody like corgan, there's a fine line - and that's the frustrating part.
there's a lot of allusions to greek mythology on the record, which is longstanding. if he was just looking for an idea, he could pull it from the iliad just as easily as anywhere else. and, like i say; an allusion to lot or isaiah or yes, even jesus, is just literary, in context. i'm not averse to that, in principle. nor am i averse to an apocalyptic track that draws on revelations, or something; it's a little cliched to get into the seventh seal when singing about climate change, but he's done it before and it's the allusion that's worthwhile, not the eschatology of it.
but, he goes beyond that frequently on this disc, and i'm just not into it.
and, i'm finding the general lightness is starting to outweigh the novelty of a new pumpkins disc and am thinking about moving on. it was nice to hear for a bit, though - nice to chew on, nice to normalize.
also: jimmy chamberlain's presence is apparent, in the end. james iha's isn't.