from Evansville Courier & Press:

Morose Corgan 'Embraces' his continued long downer (registration required)
By ERIC DANTON, Music critic
July 4, 2005

Life is just one big drag for Billy Corgan. The onetime Smashing Pumpkins frontman has sounded miserable for nearly 15 years, which is a long time to sustain despair. Even the famously tormented Morrissey converted his angst into witty sarcasm years ago.

Morrissey actually has a sense of humor, though, while Corgan is just morose. There's no respite from the gloom on "The Future Embrace," Corgan's solo debut. It's one long downer, as the bald singer and guitarist moans his way through a dozen songs. "There's a light/A certain kind of light/That never shone on me," he whines on "toLOVEsomebody." You'd be forgiven for thinking Corgan means daylight, given how pale he looks on the album cover, but he's probably referring to love. It's a theme on "The Future Embrace," which is full of lyrics that are desperate in their desire to belong to something, anything.

The music is a funereal mix of chilly robotic rhythm, swirling synth lines and grungy guitar. There's a disappointing sameness to many of the songs, although "Mina Loy (M.O.H.)" stands out, thanks to a vicious guitar line and something approximating a structured vocal melody.

Such attention to form is in short supply here, however, and without it Corgan's embrace is cold indeed.