Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan: ''Oceania' is our best album for 16 years'

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Smashing Pumpkins singer Billy Corgan has declared that the band's new album 'Oceania' is their best effort for over 15 years.

In an interview with Stereogum, the frontman claimed that the LP – which is expected to be released in early 2012 – was the band's strongest record since their 1995 classic 'Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness'.

Talking about the positive reaction from people who have heard the album, he said: "I mean, it's been a long time since I made a record where you play it for 50 people and 50 people say, 'This is a great record'. I haven't had that since 'Mellon Collie' where 50 people go, 'OK, that's a great record.'"

He went on to add:

That's a long time. That's 15, 16 years between that feeling of 'OK, now you've got one here.'

Corgan also compared it to the band's other material since their 2007 reunion LP 'Zeitgeist', insisting: "It is the first time where you actually hear me escape the old band. I'm not reacting against it or for it or in the shadow of it."

In September of this year, Corgan said that the release of 'Oceania' would be a make or break moment for the Smashing Pumpkins. He claimed that the band would "have to step back and really evaluate where we're going" if the LP wasn't a success.

Away from the recording studio, meanwhile, Corgan has kept himself busy with the launch of his 'indie' pro-wrestling company Resistance Pro.