The Smashing Pumpkins have shared two new songs from their upcoming double album, Cyr, which will be released on November 27. “Anno Satana” and “Birch Grove” were released in coordination with episode three of “In Ashes,” the Deep Sky animated five-part series. The new episode is set to the soundtrack of “Anno Satana.”
Frontman Billy Corgan produced the track and created the animated series, and this latest episode picks up where the last left off. The two protagonists find themselves stumbling on a concert in the forest as “Anno Satana” plays throughout, the protagonists kidnapped by the antagonists who are performing. Corgan’s signature vocals dance across the soothing instrumentals which mix The Smashing Pumpkins classic sound with synths. The protagonists follow the dance moves of the antagonists in what they believe to be a dark ritual, the woman spitting on the main antagonists foot. The situation continues to grow more tense, the track swaying through the course of the video.
“The original story is something I’ve written and although it’s (mostly) lighthearted, ‘In Ashes’ does address many things we face each day,” Corgan said in a press statement. “That is… if… we lived in dystopia, or paradise, or both. The choice, some say, is yours; and could even be a quantum issue.”
“Birch Grove” takes on a slower sound from “Anno Satana,” the track taking on a ballad-like pace. Corgan cries the lyrics as soft flutes play in the background, the song indulging in emotional tones and quiet tunes of the piano.
Much of Cyr‘s tracks have been released in two, with The Smashing Pumpkins leading with “Cyr” and “The Colour of Love” then following with “Confessions of a Dopamine Addict” and “Wrath.” Each of the releases have seen a track accompanied by episodes of “In Ashes,” with the latest episode leaving two episodes left.
Earlier this year, The Smashing Pumpkins had announced “sequel” to their famed 1993 Rock Invasion world tour for the spring of 2020, however the tour was first postponed then cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Photo credit: Alyssa Fried
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