Marilyn Manson: The Long Road Out Of Hell - Aus dem Leben eines Antichristen (German Edition)

Better for Marilyn to sever that marriage and turn toward a true teenager: Personal songs are unusual for Manson, but that doesn't mean he's abandoned his tendency to write about grand concepts. The difference is that this time around, Manson himself is the grand concept -- there's no excursions into neo-glam or decadent German glamour -- which may give him a lyrical hook, but not a musical one. On a sonic level this is a bit of Manson-by-numbers -- all his signatures are in place, from the liberal appropriations of Diamond Dogs to the cheerful immersion in dirges and his tuneless vampire drone -- but it feels as if his usual murky menace has lifted, with the music sounding clearer, less affected, and obtuse, while still retaining much of its gothic romanticism and churning heaviness.

If anything, Eat Me is a bit too transparent, as its clean arena rock production -- all pumped up on steroids, devoid of much grit -- makes the album sound safe, a bit too close to Manson cabaret for comfort, especially when he's penning songs whose very titles feel like unwitting self-parodies "If I Was Your Vampire," "You and Me and the Devil Makes 3," "They Said That Hell's Not Hot" , or when he lazily spews out profanity as the chorus to "Mutilation Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery. Put these two halves together, and Eat Me, Drink Me becomes an intriguing muddle, an interesting portrait of Manson at the cusp of middle-age melancholy even if as sheer music it's the least visceral or compelling he's ever been.

Antichrist Superstar performed its intended purpose -- it made Marilyn Manson internationally famous, a living realization of his fictional "antichrist superstar. Surely angered by the attention being focused elsewhere, he decided to break from Reznor and industrial metal with his third album, Mechanical Animals.

With pal Billy Corgan as an unofficial consultant and Soundgarden producer Michael Beinhorn manning the boards, Manson turns Mechanical Animals into a big, clean rock record -- the kind that stands in direct opposition to the dark, twisted industrial nightmares he painted with his first two albums. It can make for a welcome change of pace, since his glammed-up goth is more tuneful than his clattering industrial cacophony, but it lacks the cartoonish menace that distinguished his prior music.

And without that, Marilyn Manson seems a little ordinary, believe it or not -- more like a '90s version of Alice Cooper than ever before.

Marilyn Manson - uDiscover Germany

True, Mechanical Animals is the group's most accessible effort, but Manson should have remembered one thing -- demons are never that scary in the light. Coming up screaming from the depths of Florida -- there being no scarier state in the union -- Marilyn Manson cannily positioned themselves as a goth-industrial hybrid on their debut album, Portrait of an American Family.

At this stage in their evolution, Marilyn Manson was clearly a band, not just the project of Brian Warner, aka Mr. Manson, who would later simply adopt his band's name as his own. Also, horror-show schlock was a bigger factor than it would be later on, when he wanted to be the Antichrist Superstar for the world at large. Here, it's in sketch form, and by the end of the album it's clear that Warner, Manson, whatever you want to call him, needs a full canvas to truly wreak havoc.

Back when Mechanical Animals entered the charts at number one, it seemed like the world belonged to Marilyn Manson. Not only did he have the most popular album in the country, but he was everywhere -- magazine covers, op-ed pieces, TV shows, gossip columns, award ceremonies, film cameos, even the radio. There was also talk of a feature film, starring none other than himself. All gave the impression that Mechanical Animals was a colossus, which wasn't necessarily accurate. Yes, it was a number one album that went platinum, but after "The Dope Show," it didn't generate any big alt-rock hits, and more importantly, it didn't play all that well with Manson's core audience, who were more interested in goth angst than a glossy glam fantasia.

Perhaps Manson would have been able to kick up some support if he didn't court controversy throughout the album's supporting tour. While it earned him endless headlines, particularly when his feud with touring partner Courtney Love went up in smoke, it didn't quite translate into sales. Instead, it resulted in Marilyn fatigue. It didn't matter what Manson did, even if he was ridiculously blamed for something as horrific as the April school massacre at Columbine; people just didn't care anymore -- they were sick of having him to kick around.

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Perhaps that's why The Last Tour on Earth, the live souvenir from the ill-fated Mechanical Animals, was released to little fanfare in November Nobody was interested anymore. If The Last Tour on Earth was supposed to recapture their interest, it's hard to see how. Live albums rarely play to a mass audience, and this one appeals to a particularly specialized audience, capturing not only an artist adrift, but also documenting aurally a primarily visual experience.

Marilyn Manson's records are usually extremely well-crafted, filled with revealing sonic details, but he disregards his attention for minutiae in concert, choosing to concentrate on spectacle. This means more time spent on dazzling visuals than on new arrangements for the songs, and that's not a bad thing -- Manson is nothing if he isn't an agent provocateur. His shows should be an overwhelming visual experience. There's also really no call for drastically new or reinvented versions of "The Reflecting God," "The Beautiful People," or "Irresponsible Hate Anthem," since they serve as the soundtrack for the sights.

That's not to dismiss a very good, tight band, but Marilyn Manson in concert is certainly about the experience, not the music. As such, it's hard to see the purpose of The Last Tour on Earth. There are no discernible differences between the stage and studio versions of these songs, apart from rougher vocals and slightly more immediate sound. Available for download now. Provide feedback about this page.

There's a problem loading this menu right now. Get fast, free shipping with Amazon Prime. Get to Know Us. English Choose a language for shopping. Amazon Music Stream millions of songs. Amazon Advertising Find, attract, and engage customers. Amazon Drive Cloud storage from Amazon. He was a proud shock artist and a great interview, one of the few rockers of his time who stood his own against his attackers by offering articulate, informed counterarguments to their blustering rage.

Like any shock rocker, though, the novelty wears thin fast, and what was once scary turns into self-parody.

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Manson, no stranger to rock history, attempted to circumvent this by turning quickly to the left with the glam-soaked Mechanical Animals, but in doing so he lost huge portions of his audience, and by the time he returned to scary industrial metal form on Holy Wood in , he seemed out of date and few critics or fans paid attention. Three years later, he unleashed his fifth album, The Golden Age of Grotesque, and he still seemed out of step with the times, but there was a difference -- he sounded comfortable with that development. Also, by , rock, particularly heavy metal, was in desperate need of artists with a grand vision and ambition, which Manson has in spades.

After all, The Golden Age is designed to be a modern update of German art, vaudeville, and decadent Hollywood glamour of the '30s, all given a thudding metallic grind, of course. In an era when heavy rockers have no idea what happened in the '80s, much less the '30s, it's hard not to warm to this, even if his music isn't your own personal bag. Musically, Manson isn't departing from his basic sound -- he's following through on the return to basics Holy Wood represented -- but his first self-production has resulted in an album that feels light and nimble, even though it's drenched in distortion and screams.

It feels as if Manson now feels liberated from not being consistently in the spotlight, and his music has opened up as well.

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What matters here, as it always does on a Marilyn Manson album, is the overarching concept, and while The Golden Age of Grotesque has some kind of theme, its particulars aren't discernible, but the overall feeling resonates strongly. This messy, unruly, noisy burlesque may fall on its face, but it puts itself in the position where it can either stand or fall, and, unlike in the past, Manson isn't taking himself so seriously that he sounds stiff.

It all adds up to a very good album -- maybe not his best, and certainly not one that will attract the most attention, but it's a hell of a lot grander than what his peers are producing, and holds its own with his previous records.

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It's also a bit more fun, too, and that counts for a lot. Better for Marilyn to sever that marriage and turn toward a true teenager: Personal songs are unusual for Manson, but that doesn't mean he's abandoned his tendency to write about grand concepts. The difference is that this time around, Manson himself is the grand concept -- there's no excursions into neo-glam or decadent German glamour -- which may give him a lyrical hook, but not a musical one.

On a sonic level this is a bit of Manson-by-numbers -- all his signatures are in place, from the liberal appropriations of Diamond Dogs to the cheerful immersion in dirges and his tuneless vampire drone -- but it feels as if his usual murky menace has lifted, with the music sounding clearer, less affected, and obtuse, while still retaining much of its gothic romanticism and churning heaviness. If anything, Eat Me is a bit too transparent, as its clean arena rock production -- all pumped up on steroids, devoid of much grit -- makes the album sound safe, a bit too close to Manson cabaret for comfort, especially when he's penning songs whose very titles feel like unwitting self-parodies "If I Was Your Vampire," "You and Me and the Devil Makes 3," "They Said That Hell's Not Hot" , or when he lazily spews out profanity as the chorus to "Mutilation Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery.

Put these two halves together, and Eat Me, Drink Me becomes an intriguing muddle, an interesting portrait of Manson at the cusp of middle-age melancholy even if as sheer music it's the least visceral or compelling he's ever been. Antichrist Superstar performed its intended purpose -- it made Marilyn Manson internationally famous, a living realization of his fictional "antichrist superstar. Surely angered by the attention being focused elsewhere, he decided to break from Reznor and industrial metal with his third album, Mechanical Animals. With pal Billy Corgan as an unofficial consultant and Soundgarden producer Michael Beinhorn manning the boards, Manson turns Mechanical Animals into a big, clean rock record -- the kind that stands in direct opposition to the dark, twisted industrial nightmares he painted with his first two albums.

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It can make for a welcome change of pace, since his glammed-up goth is more tuneful than his clattering industrial cacophony, but it lacks the cartoonish menace that distinguished his prior music. And without that, Marilyn Manson seems a little ordinary, believe it or not -- more like a '90s version of Alice Cooper than ever before. True, Mechanical Animals is the group's most accessible effort, but Manson should have remembered one thing -- demons are never that scary in the light.

Coming up screaming from the depths of Florida -- there being no scarier state in the union -- Marilyn Manson cannily positioned themselves as a goth-industrial hybrid on their debut album, Portrait of an American Family. At this stage in their evolution, Marilyn Manson was clearly a band, not just the project of Brian Warner, aka Mr. Manson, who would later simply adopt his band's name as his own. Also, horror-show schlock was a bigger factor than it would be later on, when he wanted to be the Antichrist Superstar for the world at large. Here, it's in sketch form, and by the end of the album it's clear that Warner, Manson, whatever you want to call him, needs a full canvas to truly wreak havoc.

Back when Mechanical Animals entered the charts at number one, it seemed like the world belonged to Marilyn Manson. Not only did he have the most popular album in the country, but he was everywhere -- magazine covers, op-ed pieces, TV shows, gossip columns, award ceremonies, film cameos, even the radio.

There was also talk of a feature film, starring none other than himself. All gave the impression that Mechanical Animals was a colossus, which wasn't necessarily accurate. Yes, it was a number one album that went platinum, but after "The Dope Show," it didn't generate any big alt-rock hits, and more importantly, it didn't play all that well with Manson's core audience, who were more interested in goth angst than a glossy glam fantasia. Perhaps Manson would have been able to kick up some support if he didn't court controversy throughout the album's supporting tour. While it earned him endless headlines, particularly when his feud with touring partner Courtney Love went up in smoke, it didn't quite translate into sales.