WE ARE CHAOS opens with "RED BLACK AND BLUE," and I love the eerie spoken intro which has been frequently compared to the track "Future Legend" by David Bowie, a spoken intro that opens his 1974 album Diamond Dogs. In this opening, Manson, in a deep and velvety voice over an electronic warbling, recites in a manner reminiscent of spoken word poetry, "...See, I was a snake, but I didn't realize that you could walk on water... without legs... My eyes are mirrors; all I can see are gods on the left and demons on the right." I love how his voice comes in and out of clarity, at times sounding a bit distant and distorted and then coming in clearer. I could very easily be wrong about Manson's intentions behind the lyrics of this song, but I believe it to be commentary on the current state of the United States of America, hence the title being a play on the country's colors, with black taking the place of white due to the country being in a state of darkness right now. (Another aspect that potentially supports such a reading is the fact that the song is followed by the title track, which is very clearly about humanity being in a pretty dark state.) In that spoken intro, I think that it's pretty clear that Manson is making biblical references (which he frequently does) - the snake which represents evil as according to the Adam and Eve myth and the story of Jesus Christ (who represents good) being able to walk on water. Manson is saying that he - and very likely humanity in general - are snakes that can walk on water, meaning that we have both evil and good (or darkness and light) in us. I also believe the song to be sardonic to an extent because of these lines in the song's refrain: "This arrangement is deranged. Imagine us engaged in flames." The irony here that I believe him to be pointing out is that we don't have to imagine being in a hellish state because we are in one. My absolute favorite part of the song, however, is the chorus in which Manson repeats, "Red, black, and I'm blue." Underneath his anthemic words is heavy slamming guitar making the song one of my favorite headbangers on the album.
WE ARE CHAOS then gives us its title track which I am going to graze over since I have already discussed it in its own review, but I do want to say that I personally still relate the song's lyrics to the COVID-19 pandemic even though Manson has stated that that was not the inspiration for the song given that it was written well over a year ago. The parallels in the song's lyrics, however, are spot-on and are so fitting. The third track is the album's second single, "DON'T CHASE THE DEAD." It's a good song, although I probably would not have chosen it as a single myself. It's definitely one that grew on me, as it is one that, as aforementioned, initially disappointed me. It still is far from my favorite on the album, but I do really appreciate its bluesy groove which reminds me of The Pale Emperor. Manson told Consequence of Sound in an interview to which I linked above that he was going for an "end of the world" feeling with the song, and I think that he did that well, especially when he sings in the song's chorus that "if tonight lasts forever, it won't matter if there's no tomorrow." There is definitely an apocalyptic feeling to it, but there is also a sense of hope to it: "Don't chase the dead," Manson warns in the pre-chorus (which is arguably more infectious than the chorus itself), "or they'll end up chasing you." I personally interpret the meaning of the song to be telling listeners to find a balance between living our best lives due to tomorrow not being promised but to also not take unnecessary risks, to not "chase the dead." Death ends up chasing after us anyway, so why give it a head start? Something kind of cool about this track that I feel the need to mention is that it has always reminded me a great deal of the television series The Walking Dead, and Norman Reedus (who plays the beloved character Daryl on the series) appears in the song's music video. I don't know whether or not that is a coincidence. It could be that Manson was in part inspired by The Walking Dead and that that is what prompted him to invite Reedus on board for the music video, but I can't say that definitively.
Manson also stated in that aforementioned interview that he was going for somewhat of a romantic David Bowie like feeling to the album, and I think that that is obvious on "PAINT YOU WITH MY LOVE." This song is melodically beautiful and reminds me a little bit of the glam rock sound heard on Manson's 1998 album Mechanical Animals, although it also has somewhat of a twangy sound to it as does The Pale Emperor. "PAINT YOU WITH MY LOVE" has a slow and waltzy rhythm that reminds me a bit of country and pop music from the 1950s and 1960s, and like I said, it is very beautiful. Lyrically, however, it's one of the most difficult songs on the album to interpret and make sense of. In the second verse, we get the following lines: "To kill the man behind the crowd would be viewed as amateur because the king is invisible. The king is invisible, and death is a profession." I interpret this part of the song as being similar to what V says in the film V for Vendetta, about how you can kill a person, but you cannot kill an idea. If a king or a leader is corrupt, then killing him isn't likely to solve the problem because another will take his place. I am really not sure what that has to do with the rest of the song, however, and the opening verse makes very little sense to me, almost none at all: "Honky-tonk devils glitter in like royal rats in kitten skin, and all the blondes drop their panties and cry to the father's first lullaby." In the song's chorus, Manson longingly sings the song's title, and it could very well be intended to be sexual innuendo, as Manson is certainly no stranger to that. (Just look at the lyrics of "Heart Shaped Glasses" or "Evidence" from Eat Me, Drink Me to see what I mean.) As I said, however, I am really not sure how to connect those two ideas together. It is a beautiful but boggling song. Perhaps, within time, I will be able to make better sense of it the more that I listen to it, or perhaps Manson will make a statement about his intentions behind the song.
We then get one of my favorites, titled "HALF-WAY & ONE STEP FORWARD." I absolutely adore the oscillating piano accompaniment to the song, which immediately snatched my attention even on first listen. Manson's first verse contains vampyric imagery (something which also is not new territory for him): "Smell your blood," he sings lightly over the aforementioned piano melody, "it's like a carnival or state fair. Skin is cotton candy, so easy to melt in my mouth." The vampyric imagery is very likely intended to be sexual in nature, which is not at all surprising because it has, for a very long time now, been popular to romanticize and sexualize vampires, and as I said, even Manson himself has done it before in his music. Much of WE ARE CHAOS seems to be about death; in fact, I think that INFINITE DARKNESS would have likely been a more appropriate title for the album, which I will touch upon in a bit. "HALF-WAY & ONE STEP FORWARD" is an example, though, of what I mean when I say that a lot of the album seems to be focused on death: "It's about how much people cry when you die," Manson declares in the second verse of the song. "It's not about the storm of tears that you make when you're alive." This verse, to me, touches upon the fact that people will cry for you at your funeral when you're gone but won't cry when you're alive and in pain; they don't care about your tears as long as you're alive, and this sentiment is cynical but in many cases very true, as it is something that I have witnessed myself as someone who has suffered from chronic depression. People frequently don't seem to care about your problems until you mention suicide, and they would rather see you alive and in pain than dead because your death would mean their pain. I think that that is in large part what this catchy rock song is touching upon. The chorus of the song is as follows: "Half-way and one step forward, past the point of no return." This is likely speaking to the fact that every minute that passes is one minute closer to the time that we die.
It's really hard for me to choose my favorite song from WE ARE CHAOS because there are so many fantastic tracks, but it's likely a toss-up between the title track, "HALF-WAY & ONE STEP FORWARD," and "INFINITE DARKNESS." "INFINITE DARKNESS" took some time to grow on me, but once it finally did, it blew me away, and there are a couple of reasons why I said previously that I think that INFINITE DARKNESS would have made for a better album title than WE ARE CHAOS does. For starters, according to Genius, INFINITE DARKNESS is apparently the title of Manson's self-portrait that is featured on the cover of the album. Secondly, and more importantly, the song "INFINITE DARKNESS" is 100% about death, arguably more so about death than any other song on the album, and, like I said, I do think that that is the overall concept covered on the album, much more so, in my opinion, than the idea of humanity being chaotic. "INFINITE DARKNESS" is probably the heaviest track on the album, not only because it is the song on which the guitar is heaviest but also because it's the only song on the album on which Manson screams, which he does in the chorus. "Fast and ghastly," Manson sings in layered vocals (a style frequented many times throughout the album), "and unforgiving," referring to death which comes for us all. In the second verse, Manson declares that "just 'cause you're famous doesn't mean you're worth anything in this world or the next one or the one before," and it's fairly clear to me that he is saying that death comes for you regardless of your fame or fortune; it doesn't care who you are and regards all of us as equals. My absolute favorite part of the song, however, is after the second time that he sings that "you're not the hero" in the pre-chorus; a rapid drum beat breaks in and transitions into the heavy chorus, and it is one of the most energetic spots on the entire album. As I said, this song is a true treat and definitely a highlight on WE ARE CHAOS.
The whole middle section of the album - beginning with "PAINT YOU WITH MY LOVE" and ending here with "PERFUME" is relentlessly good. "PERFUME" is possibly intended to be a callback to a line from "WE ARE CHAOS" in which Manson sings that "once you've inhaled death, everything else is perfume." "PERFUME" is definitely one of the most upbeat and playful songs on the album. "Get behind me, Satan" Manson repeats in a falsetto voice (which is layered on top of a much deeper and throaty vocal track) at the very beginning of the song, a catchy hook which goes on to serve as the song's pre-chorus and is repeated several more times throughout the song. "PERFUME" definitely has a glam rock feel to it, probably even more so than "PAINT YOU WITH MY LOVE." I have frequently seen fans compare this album to the aforementioned Mechanical Animals, and while I overall don't really agree, I definitely hear it on this song, as it especially affords echoes of "The Dope Show" and "I Don't Like the Drugs (but the Drugs Like Me)." I personally interpret the song as embracing both the light and the darkness that is in you (as I believe the intro to the album to be doing). Over the last three decades, Manson has been condemned by many - especially conservative Christians - as a pariah, a Satan worshiper subliminally trying, through his lyrics and his imagery, to get kids to commit heinous acts such as kill others and/or themselves. He is thus likely using this command - "Get behind me, Satan" (which is borrowed from the Bible) - as a way of telling such people to get off his back. "If you conjure the devil," he warns in the song's chorus, "you better make sure you got a bed for him to sleep in." This falls under the category of being careful what you wish for and not being so quick to make an enemy of someone lest they actually become one. I also believe that parts of the song address people who cause trouble but then play the victim after the damage is done: "...you wear your damage on your sleeve..." he sings in the first verse, "'cause victim is chic. You're as famous as your pain."
"KEEP MY HEAD TOGETHER" is, in my opinion, the weakest spot on the album. I don't necessarily dislike it, but I don't love it either, and I just don't find it all that interesting compared to other songs on the album. The song is a fairly heavy rock track with a little bit of electronic production, and Manson has stated that, when writing the song, he was thinking a lot about bullying and how bullies often come from a place of privilege, a place where they haven't had to work for what they have. My favorite part of the song from a lyrical standpoint is definitely the chorus in which he warns, "Don't try changing someone else; you'll just end up changing yourself." What powerful words! He is, to me, saying here that it's easy to lose yourself in trying to better someone else and that you should therefore focus on bettering yourself instead. Keeping your head together, in this sense, likely means focusing on yourself and your own sanity. This could also be in reference to relationships and how sometimes people whom we date take and take but don't give much of anything in return: "I fuckin' love you," he declares in the bridge. "I love fuckin' you. I eat glass, and I spit diamonds." At the very end of the song, Manson, in a slow and nasally speaking voice, declares the title of the next song, "SOLVE COAGULA." The meaning behind these words is complex but has to do, according to Genius, with having to destroy that with which we are familiar in order to make ground for something new. The song is a slower and softer number on the album, with softly strumming electric guitar and an industrial whistling sound. "I'm not special; I'm just broken, and I don't want to be fixed," Manson repeats several times throughout the song which I think speaks to the previously mentioned theme of the song. People are sometimes so afraid of change that they don't welcome even positive change. Pain becomes comfortable and familiar to the point at which they are afraid to heal. (This possibly calls back to the illness referred to in the title track.)
WE ARE CHAOS closes with "BROKEN NEEDLE," a beautiful acoustic rock track that took some time to grow on me. (I really loved it once it did, however.) This is potentially another callback to the front half of the album, as Manson opens the album with the spoken words, "I can stick a needle in the horror and fix your blindness." Both the pre-chorus and the chorus of this song are melodically beautiful and powerful. In the previous song, Manson talks of being broken ("I'm not special; I'm just broken..."), and here, in a tragic turn, he seems to be referring to how that brokenness affects others: "I am a needle," he laments in the chorus, "dig in your grooves. Scratch you up. Then, I'll put you away." After some time, the needle of a turntable needs to be replaced or else, when it breaks, it can damage your vinyls. Manson is tragically comparing himself to such a needle, saying that that damage causes damage to others as well until they, too, are broken. As an avid fan of fairytales, I love how there seems to be a couple of references to them in it. In the first verse, for example, he sings, "Stare into the mirror. Apples are always something to fear." This is likely a reference to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but the word always implies that it is probably also a reference to the story of Adam and Eve in the Bible. It is true that apples are frequently depicted as something negative; they are usually connected to death (Snow White, Death Note, etc.) or temptation (the Bible, even though the Bible itself doesn't actually say that the forbidden fruit is an apple). In the second verse, Manson sings, "It won't be death but a deep sleep. A curse of a hundred years, the princess will fall." This could be intended to be another reference to Snow White, but it personally reminds me more of Sleeping Beauty because in the Disney animated version, Maleficent mocks Phillip by telling him a hypothetical story of Phillip, as an unnaturally old man, rescuing Aurora from her sleep after a hundred years. "BROKEN NEEDLE," for several reasons, makes for such a sad and powerful ending to WE ARE CHAOS.
That is where most editions of the album end, but there is a Target exclusive edition that includes two bonus tracks - acoustic versions of "WE ARE CHAOS" and "BROKEN NEEDLE." I did purchase that edition of the album, but I do wish that they differed more from the original versions. They are not completely new recordings; instead, the same vocal tracks are used over new stripped down instrumentals, so they are really more like remixes. There are also editions (I believe as vinyl only) that include a remix of "WE ARE CHAOS" titled "WE ARE KHAOS." While I did not purchase such a vinyl (and I am honestly glad that I didn't because in order to access the 7" vinyl that features the remix, you apparently have to destroy the sleeve containing it), I have heard the remix thanks to YouTube, and it really isn't anything special. Reminiscent of '90s electronic music such as Depeche Mode, the vocals are echoey and poorly mixed, and it just doesn't work. Overall, WE ARE CHAOS is magnificent and is one of the best albums of his career. It's eclectic but still manages to feature cohesion even with it being so eclectic. Most of the tracks transition nicely and are even gapless, and Manson stated in the previously linked interview with Consequence of Sound that the album deliberately has ten tracks because he wanted it to be like a traditional LP that has two sides; supposedly, the style even drastically shifts between the first half of the album and the second half, but I personally don't really hear that. "RED BLACK AND BLUE," for example, is absolutely nothing like tracks 2-5 and is most similar to "INFINITE DARKNESS," which kicks off the second half. I have also seen a lot of fans negatively criticize the album for being too twangy, but I also do not agree with that because even though some tracks do have a twangy influence on them (probably thanks, in part, to Shooter's involvement), The Pale Emperor is by far his twangiest album yet. Despite what many fans seem to think, I firmly believe that Manson is still putting his all into what he does, and I absolutely adore WE ARE CHAOS.
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