Machina/The Machines of God is the fifth studio album by the American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins, released on February 29, 2000, by Virgin Records.

A concept album,[3] it marked the return of drummer Jimmy Chamberlin and was intended to be the band's final official LP release prior to their initial breakup in 2000.

Following the electronic and industrial rock elements established by its predecessor, Adore, Machina again proved controversial to the band's fan base and failed to reconnect them with chart-topping success.

[4] After the Adore tour ended in the second half of 1998, lead singer/guitarist Billy Corgan immediately began to work on new material, playing new songs as early as October of that year.

"[8] Corgan envisioned a lengthy concept album in conjunction with a musical theater approach to a tour, based around the idea of the band playing exaggerated versions of themselves, as the press and public seemed to view them.

[12] Much like previous albums, the songs were first tracked acoustically at Corgan's house in late 1998[13] before the band set to work on them at their practice space and the Chicago Recording Company.

[citation needed] After the tour's conclusion, the bass guitarist, D'arcy Wretzky, left the band, leaving the rest of them in a difficult position.

Corgan later said, "This put a stress obviously on the full integrity of the project, because it was connected to the band not only bringing the music to fruition fully, but also the public component of being in character.

[19] On March 9, the band went on the Thursday edition of @MTV Week at Broadway Studios in New York City for a half-hour live TV special.

[20] The video for the final single, "Try, Try, Try", directed by Jonas Åkerlund, was released on September 11, 2000, but did not receive airplay in the US due to its graphic content.

A sequence of writings, by Corgan, were released under the name "Glass and the Machines of God" starting in the CD booklet and continuing over the Internet and elsewhere.

[23] The booklet artwork, a series of paintings by Vasily Kafanov, loosely told the album's story while hinting at themes related to alchemy, chemistry, metallurgy, physics, medicine, astrology, semiotics, mysticism, spiritualism, and art.

[24] In June 2001, a viral marketing campaign written by Jim Evans and Ben Allgood was launched via the Smashing Pumpkins message board, encouraging users to seek out mysterious websites and video clips.

This early example of an internet-based alternate reality game eventually unveiled the news of a new online animated series by Sony based on the Machina story.

Due in part to the changing circumstances surrounding the album's rollout, the series was shelved before any episodes were completed, though several portions have been leaked to YouTube.

Jim DeRogatis of the Chicago Sun-Times called Machina "an exceedingly impressive and hard-driving record"[28] and contended that it was the band's "masterpiece".

Regarding the disappointing sales, Jimmy Chamberlin commented, "It was like watching your kid flunking out of school after getting straight A's for ten years.

[46] Part of the restored concept album will be a suite simulating a live Machines of God concert, possibly with crowd noise added, with a mix inspired by Kiss' Alive!.