Marilyn Manson - WE ARE CHAOS [Review]

WE ARE CHAOS is industrial metal musician Marilyn Manson's eleventh studio album following the 2017 release Heaven Upside Down (which I reviewed here). When Manson first opened discussion of the album, which is co-written and produced by Shooter Jennings, he called it a masterpiece, and that really excited me because unlike what seems to be the case amongst a lot of other Manson fans, I have, for the most part, been enjoying his work as of late. His 2015 album The Pale Emperor (which I reviewed here), for example, is probably my second favorite album of his (with 2007's Eat Me, Drink Me being my top favorite), and I now appreciate Heaven Upside Down even more than I did when it came out three years ago. I therefore thought to myself that if there were a chance that I was going to love this upcoming album even more than I loved The Pale Emperor or Heaven Upside Down, then I was really in for a treat. When the title track and first single (which I reviewed here) was released, that hope was even further solidified because of how much I love(d) the song, beautiful both melodically and lyrically. The song really does not accurately represent what the album as a whole has to offer, however, and at first, I felt rather disappointed by the album. It initially seemed to lack cohesiveness, and nothing was hooking me like "WE ARE CHAOS" had. I reminded myself, however, how that was how I felt about the aforementioned Eat Me, Drink Me when it first came out, and that went on to become my favorite Manson album. I was therefore persistent with WE ARE CHAOS, listening to it repeatedly and giving it chance after chance, and I am very glad that I did because I would absolutely have to agree with Mr. Manson; the album is indeed a masterpiece. Eat Me, Drink Me and The Pale Emperor are still my top two favorites, but WE ARE CHAOS might take the cake for third place. It is phenomenal.

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.

Marilyn Manson - WE ARE CHAOS - Single [Review]

The self-proclaimed God of Fuck is back after three years after 2017's Heaven Upside Down (which I reviewed here - check it out, as I am really proud of that review) with the first single - "WE ARE CHAOS" - from his upcoming eleventh studio album (due to drop on September 11th, 2020) of the same title. When I first listened to the song, I instantly fell in love with it, although it definitely surprised me because despite its title, it is anything but chaotic. It is a beautiful power ballad reminding me a bit of The High End of Low (2009)'s "Running to the Edge of the World," making it a surprising lead single. It is, however, not the first time that a rock or metal act this year has released a surprising lead single from a new album. This past April, Evanescence released "Wasted on You" (which I reviewed here), the first single from their upcoming studio album The Bitter Truth, and it surprised a lot of fans because it didn't really have the energy of a lead single; like "WE ARE CHAOS," it is a power ballad that sounds more like an album's closing track than a lead single, and that is definitely the case here, as well. "WE ARE CHAOS" sounds like a track that could effectively close the album, although it isn't going to; it will be the second track on the album. The reason why I bring the Evanescence song up, however, is that frontwoman Amy Lee said that "Wasted on You" was not originally intended to be the first single but seemed appropriate because of the times that we were living in (as in the COVID-19 pandemic), and given the song's second verse, I wholeheartedly agreed: "Once, this was a garden. This was a world. All of the nightmares stayed in the dark. A little too much time by yourself and you become the enemy. Just look at us now." It seemed to describe the world - having to quarantine and isolate because of the virus - pretty perfectly, and I think that Manson might have chosen "WE ARE CHAOS" as this album's lead single for the same reason - that and just how chaotic that 2020 has been in general. I, in fact, would even venture as far as to say that the lyrics were likely directly written about or at least heavily inspired by the pandemic: "If you say that we're ill," Manson opens the first verse with his signature throaty moan, "give us your pill. Hope we'll just go away, but once you've inhaled death, everything else is perfume." The parallel there to this year's situation is, in my opinion, pretty obvious.

Genius describes "WE ARE CHAOS" as being more uplifting than most of Manson's music tends to be, and I would definitely agree - both sonically and lyrically. The song is sonically light and has a bit of a dreamlike quality to it, namely because of the softly strumming acoustic guitar and Manson's slightly echoed and displaced vocals. There is some electric guitar in the mix (which comes in later), but it's really not heavy and makes the song more of an alternative track than a hard rock or metal track. It is a stark contrast when considering Heaven Upside Down's lead single "WE KNOW WHERE YOU FUCKING LIVE," which is arguably one of the heaviest songs of Manson's career thus far. The song is also, as just mentioned, lyrically uplifting, although it may not seem that way at first glance. The anthemic hook declares that "we are sick, fucked up, and complicated" and that "we are chaos; we can't be cured." This seems to suggest, since it says that we can't be cured, that humanity is a hopeless case. I am, however, reminded of the X-Men franchise in which some people try to find a cure for mutants, but some of the mutants rebel, claiming that they don't need a cure because there is nothing wrong with them. It is a stark parallel with real life situations in which LGBTQ+ people are subjected to treatments such as conversion therapy. Manson could therefore be saying that we can't be cured because there isn't anything wrong with us. He could also be saying that what is wrong with us is what makes us human. He admits that we are complicated, and that word implies that there are good aspects to humanity. Near the end of the first verse (probably my favorite part of the song), Manson sings, "In the end, we all end up in a garbage dump, but I'll be the one that's holding your hand." His garbage dump is likely a euphemism for death; he is saying that death doesn't negate the importance of life - that it, in fact, makes life that much more beautiful because it is an opportunity for love to fulfill promises. It's arguably somewhat cliché but also a beautiful line and could possibly be inspired in part by his having lost his father three years ago, an event that deeply impacted Manson emotionally. I just adore this song so much; it is a rare example of a song hitting me upon first listen, as I even got chills and nearly cried when I first heard it. Manson has said that he is very proud of WE ARE CHAOS, referring to it as a masterpiece, and if this first single is any indication, then we are definitely in for a treat!

Marilyn Manson - Heaven Upside Down [Review]

“I am not someone who is loved,” Jared Leto’s rendition of The Joker muses in the extended version of the 2016 DC film Suicide Squad. “I’m an idea, state of mind.” This is an outlook on one’s identity that is probably not too far removed from how Marilyn Manson (born Brian Hugh Warner) views himself (or at least how others view him), which seems to be evidenced on his latest album, Heaven Upside Down. The album was originally titled SAY10 and was slated for a Valentine's Day 2017 release, but due to mostly undisclosed reasons, the album was delayed to later in the year. (Manson has since said that he is grateful for the delay because the delay gave birth to songs that we previously would not have heard.) Heaven Upside Down is undeniably Manson's heaviest and most aggressive album in years (possibly even since 2003’s The Golden Age of Grotesque), and if it accomplishes anything wholeheartedly, it is that it serves as a stark and brutal (although probably pleasant to many fans) reminder that the self-proclaimed “God of Fuck” is still alive and well and doesn’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon. Highlights on Heaven Upside Down include "Tattooed in Reverse," the first single "WE KNOW WHERE YOU FUCKING LIVE," "KILL4ME," and "Blood Honey."

As I have seen other Marilyn Manson fans point out, there are several tracks on the album which seem to call back to earlier Manson albums, and I agree. The opening track, for example (titled "Revelation #12"), sounds almost like an outtake from the debut album, Portrait of an American Family. The song is one of the heaviest songs on the album, and while it is actually one of my least favorite songs on the album (primarily due to its stale repetition), it does invite listeners to share nostalgic memories of '90s Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie. The second track on Heaven Upside Down is titled "Tattooed in Reverse" and is definitely, as previously mentioned, a highlight on the album. One reason why I love it so much is that it is sonically similar to sounds heard on Eat Me, Drink Me, my favorite Manson album to date. The track features a thumping and playful beat, reminding me strikingly of the Eat Me, Drink Me track "The Red Carpet Grave." What I also love about the song is that it features clever wordplay (something that he employed frequently on his last album, The Pale Emperor, another one of my favorites), such as when he asserts that he is "unstable" and "not a show horse."

The album's third track is its lead single, "WE KNOW WHERE YOU FUCKING LIVE." This song is sure to remind fans of older Manson albums such as Antichrist Superstar and/or Holy Wood (in the Shadow of the Valley of Death). The track abandons the playful cabaret sound of "Tattooed in Reverse," instead opting for a raw and straightforward heavy metal track. The song's music video depicts Manson portraying the leader of a cult of murderous nuns, and this idea of blindly following someone or something and consequently surrendering your sense of individuality is one that is prevalent on the album. "WE KNOW WHERE YOU FUCKING LIVE" definitely (at least in my humble opinion) features a political slant (to which Manson is no stranger), as it could easily be interpreted as being from the perspective of (a) government official(s) who is/are proudly exercising his/their power to tap into citizens' personal and private lives. (Big Brother, anyone?) Even if the song is not intended to be interpreted so literally, however, the theme of power (be it political, social, etc.) being abused by the song's speaker is there regardless.

"SAY10," as previously mentioned, was originally intended to be the title track, and it is actually the first song that was previewed. Nearly a year ago, Manson uploaded a music video that only previewed a snippet of the song; the gory video depicted Manson destroying a Christian Bible as a decapitated man resembling Donald Trump lie in a pool of blood on the floor. The full music video, which was released about a month ago, abandons that concept but still doesn't hold back on the gore, as Manson is seen gushing blood out of his throat during the video as a character played by Johnny Depp (longtime friend of Manson's) is seen alongside Manson and getting it on with young and attractive women. The song is heavy and reminds me of the Golden Age era, and it lyrically calls attention to the idea that one person's villain is another person's hero, which could be meant to clarify his stance on Satanism; while he believes in neither God nor Satan, Satan, like Manson himself, is often misunderstood as a figure of pure evil when the reality is that he was merely a rebel, unwilling to obey God's rules. (The song's title is an obvious play on Satan and is also probably meant to exemplify the fact that Heaven Upside Down is Manson's tenth studio album.)

While I don't intend to keep comparing the album's songs to older Marilyn Manson songs, "KILL4ME" is strikingly similar to "Third Day of a Seven Day Binge" from The Pale Emperor, even opening with a very similar bluesy rock beat. I can't help but associate this song with the character Kai Anderson on American Horror Story: Cult. Kai is basically a modern day Charles Manson (from whom Manson gets half of his stage name), a cult leader who manipulates people into brutally murdering people for political reasons. (The "WE KNOW WHERE YOU FUCKING LIVE" music video would have been a good concept for this song, as well.) The song is also probably intended to be a satirical commentary on all of the heat that Manson has taken over the years for supposedly being a negative influence on people, especially youth, and encouraging them to commit acts of violence. Manson's career, in fact, nearly came to a screeching halt when conservative fearmongers like Bill O'Reilly pointed blame at Manson for the Columbine massacre that occurred in 1999. Mainly because of its similarity to "Third Day of a Seven Day Binge" (which, in my opinion, is one of Manson's best songs in his entire catalogue) and because of its catchy hook, "KILL4ME" is my favorite song from Heaven Upside Down.

"Saturnalia" is honestly a low point on the album. It runs (probably unnecessarily, I might add) at eight minutes long and is one of the more subdued songs on the album, not really featuring a memorable hook like songs like "WE KNOW WHERE YOU FUCKING LIVE" and "KILL4ME" do. Although attempting to analyze this song's lyrics can be a challenge (as is often the case with Manson), lyrics like "I was invited to eat the young" and "I don't want to be another bullet hole in the exit sign on your road" seem to suggest that Manson might be pointing at a theme similar to that of "KILL4ME" - the unnerving fact that Manson has so often over the past two decades been used as a scapegoat by people who don't actually understand him. I have an older relative, for example, who once successfully convinced my mother when I was much younger to try to avoid allowing me to listen to Manson, citing reasons such as how Manson encourages listeners to murder their parents. It was immediately clear to me that he was acting on ignorance, as people who oppose Manson often do, as there is, to the best of my knowledge (and I am a pretty passionate fan), no Marilyn Manson song that encourages such a thing.

"JE$US CRI$I$" is a fun and upbeat song that pulls no punches. It violently introduces us to its hook, during which Manson declares that he "write[s] songs to fight and to fuck to. If you want to fight, then I'll fight you. If you want to fuck, I will fuck you." Manson could definitely be demonstrating a strong sense of self-awareness here, but is he? One reason why Marilyn Manson's songs tend to be somewhat difficult to interpret (aside from the fact, of course, that he often extensively employs esoteric knowledge of the Christian Bible, which, as his autobiography The Long Hard Road Out of Hell explains, is primarily because he attended Christian Bible school as a child) is that it's rarely clear whether or not Manson wants his words to be taken satirically or seriously. He has, for example, said in the past that he doesn't really understand why people are drawn to him sexually because he doesn't want to be attractive and even intentionally attempts to make himself look like a corpse. This shines an interesting light on these lyrics. My interpretation of the song is that Christianity is a manipulative (and maybe even financially driven, as the title of the song seems to suggest) power that is the root of many of our crises.

"Blood Honey" is another highlight on the album, serving as one of my favorites. Although undoubtedly still a hard rock song, "Blood Honey" is a slower song on the album, almost having a waltzy rhythm to it, and it may actually be one of Manson's most personally reflective songs to date. "I fuck every broken-crazy girl instead of hanging from the ceiling," he laments. As previously mentioned, I have read Manson's autobiography, so I know that he is no stranger to trauma, having been raped as a child by the very same person who also murdered his beloved dog. "I got some feelings, but I try to hide when I'm healing... so I keep my life a lie." This idea of keeping "my life a lie" is indicative of why, as previously mentioned, we are probably not intended to take everything that Manson says via his music at face value. How do we know, after all, that Brian Hugh Warner and Marilyn Manson are the exact same person? How much of Marilyn Manson is a persona? Celebrities are so often seen as archetypes or as characters rather than as human beings, and I think that Manson is well aware that this tends to be the case for him, which is why I made the comparison to The Joker calling himself a "state of mind."

The penultimate song on Heaven Upside Down is the album's title track, another song, like "KILL4ME," that has somewhat of a bluesy rock sound that sounds like it could belong on The Pale Emperor. Like many of the songs on the album, the song refers to realities being reversed and "upside down." Songs like "Tattooed in Reverse" and "Blood Honey" (which even features the lyric that "you only say that you want me when I'm upside down") feature this theme, and I even came to the realization that the unconventional way that the CD is packaged might have been a creative choice done to help promote one of the album's themes. Many people nowadays (if they buy it at all) buy music digitally, and the age of CDs seems to sadly be dying. (Be still, my poor CD player junkie heart.) I did, however, buy the CD and was almost immediately taken aback by how it was packaged. The front cover is very thin, featuring only two sides, and the booklet, which is made out of a thin, newspaper-like material, is underneath the disc. I have never before seen an album packaged in such a way and can't help but wonder if, as I said, it's meant to accentuate the album's theme of reality being "upside down."

The album's final track is titled "Threats of Romance." The introduction of the song features a slamming and heavily accentuated beat similar to that of "Tattooed in Reverse." It is, in fact, yet another one that reminds me of Eat Me, Drink Me. "Threats of Romance" is another song that could potentially be personal for Manson. It's no secret that Manson has been unlucky in love, moving from relationship to relationship, none of them lasting very long. "Things that are pretty are always kept behind glass," he sings in an almost mournful tone, "and someone like me... can't make it last." Manson, or at least the speaker of this song, seems to be blaming himself for failed relationships, reasoning that his need for chaos and disarray is what leads to his relationships ending. On his song "WOW," found on his 2009 album The High End of Low, Manson sings, "Did you stop and take a look at who you fell in love with?" which seems to parallel his feelings on "Threats of Romance." He continues, "My seed would have made good fruit, and you could have been a tree." Could it be that Manson regrets never having fathered any children? Manson's own father passed away this year, something that hit him very hard, so it could very well be that this is on his mind.

I am overall relatively pleased with Heaven Upside Down. It is most definitely not my favorite Marilyn Manson album to date (that, as previously mentioned, would be Eat Me, Drink Me, and it's going to take a lot for a future album to take that album's place), but it is also far from being my least favorite. (While it is difficult to pinpoint my least favorite Marilyn Manson album, Portrait of an American Family, The High End of Low, and Born Villain all come to mind as possible candidates.) The album features some low points such as "Revelation #12" but also features brilliant highlights such as "KILL4ME" and "Blood Honey." It is interesting how, via this album, Manson manages to continue implementing his modus operandi of using clever wordplay and biblical imagery while still capturing a somehow introspective and personal photograph of himself as a human being. This duality, this question of identity regarding where Brian Hugh Warner ends and where Marilyn Manson begins, if anywhere, perhaps at least partially begins to deconstruct the idea that Marilyn Manson is nothing more than an archetypal character, a "state of mind," that he is actually a human being who tends to be looked at "upside down."

Marilyn Manson - The Pale Emperor [Review]

Marilyn Manson is a musician who has constantly pushed boundaries, upsetting a great deal of conservative people, especially those of Christian faith, for over two decades now. Within the last few years, Manson has released a series of albums that have not been as shocking, and he has also worn an image that is not quite as shocking, and some fans feel drastically disappointed, feeling like the self-proclaimed "god of fuck" has lost his touch. I am a fan who has been following Manson for over a decade now, and I think that he continues to demonstrate sheer talent as a musician and as the frontman of a rock/metal band. My belief is that he has matured as a person and as a musician (he is now forty-six years old, so he isn't getting any younger, nor are any of us), and that is something that I really admire and appreciate. With that being said, however, fans who have lost appreciation for him due to their belief that he has lost his shock value more than likely find themselves devastated by the musician's newest release The Pale Emperor because both lyrically and melodically, this album may just demonstrate the tamest Marilyn Manson that we have ever seen or heard.

Incorporated into the album, especially on tracks such as the opener "Killing Strangers" and the first single "Third Day of a Seven-Day Binge," are blues and classic rock influence. "Killing Strangers" features an introductory guitar riff reminding me of The Rolling Stones or the more modern The White Stripes. The song is used to promote the video game Dying Light and is also featured in the film John Wick, so it has received considerable promotion for a non-single track. The song seems to be a critical commentary on war, sarcastically saying that we consider it acceptable to kill people whom we don't know in order to protect loved ones. Although critical (at least in my opinion), it is a reality of humanity. 30 Seconds to Mars tackled the same philosophical issue on their song "Hurricane," when they asked, "Tell me, would you kill to save a life?" The second track is "Deep Six," released as the album's lead single and the b-side to the "Third Day of a Seven-Day Binge" single. "Deep Six" is one of my favorite songs on the album, both because of its sheer electric and metallic power and also because of its clever lyrics. "You want to know what Zeus said to Narcissus?" Manson asks. He responds to his own question with, "'You better watch yourself.'" Cleverness in lyrics doesn't get much better than that.

The third track on the album is undoubtedly my favorite song on the album. "Third Day of a Seven-Day Binge" sounds like a combination of nineties and 2000s alternative rock (as it reminds me very much of "This Is the Day" by The Cranberries) and blues. It is certainly the catchiest song on the album and even makes reference to a "booth," which could be a reference to a DJ's booth at a night club. The song seems to capture the desire to get out of a toxic relationship because of the depression and the energy draining that the lover is causing. The song is appropriately followed by "The Mephistopheles of Los Angeles," and I say that the two songs being paired together is appropriate because the song is another one that has hints of nineties and 2000s alternative rock, especially because of its guitar solo at the very beginning. The Pale Emperor makes several references to ancient folklore and mythology, such as its reference to Zeus and Narcissus on "Deep Six." Here, Manson references and identifies as Mephistopheles, a figure from German folklore who can be likened to Satan. Manson refers to the criticism that he receives as a risqué artist, and he once again pulls clever lyrics out of his hat, such as when he says that "Lazarus got no dirt on me." It is also probably no coincidence that the city of Los Angeles translates to the Angels. My hope is that this track will be a single, as it is one of my favorites.

The fifth track from The Pale Emperor is "Warship My Wreck," a song that reminds me a bit of the opening track from Eat Me, Drink Me, "If I Was Your Vampire." It is a song that has grown on me because I remember not thinking too much of it the first few times that I heard it. It seems to be about demanding control of your own misery. "Slave Only Dreams to Be King" is one song that harkens back to Manson's Mechanical Animals days, as it reminds me a bit of "Rock Is Dead." The song, in a sense, touches upon the idea of the abused becoming the abuser, the oppressed becoming the oppressor. If a slave, for example, were to become king, he would likely, in one sense or another, have slaves of his own, since monarchies are typically not democracies; a king is a type of ruler. "The Devil Beneath My Feet" is another song that has a bit of a bluesy sound to it (as does the following track, "Birds of Hell Awaiting," which has a bluesy beat). The song renounces any connection to the Christian God, saying, "I don't need a motherfucker looking down on me." The song potentially makes reference to "I Have to Look Up Just to See Hell" from The High End of Low and covers (more than likely metaphorically) having to finally pay dues for deals made in the past, deals that secured power. In the meantime, however, at least he had that power.

The aforementioned "Birds of Hell Awaiting" is a bit groovy and reminds me a bit of "The Dope Show" from Mechanical Animals. The song is an appropriate follow-up to "The Devil Beneath My Feet," as the song is a cautionary message against being overly ambitious. Desire and death (whether literally or figuratively) are sometimes one and the same. Manson has said before that The Pale Emperor is really intended to be an expression of his dues, which must now be collected, and several songs are expressive of this theme. The following track is the penultimate "Cupid Carries a Gun," and we heard a snippet of this song quite some time ago, as it serves as the theme song of the television series Salem. The song touches upon a southern rock sound, and thematically, the title seems to be relatively self-explanatory. The lyrics make several sexual references but seem to equate love and sex with danger. During the Electra Heart era, Marina and the Diamonds released a song titled "E.V.O.L," in which she declares that love can be evil (or evol, as love would be spelled backwards), and Manson does the same on this album when, in "Deep Six," he states that "LOVE is EVOL." This seems to be an idea that pops up fairly frequently on The Pale Emperor, and I would be willing to bet that "Cupid Carries a Gun" is personally about at least one of his many past lovers, such as Evan Rachel Wood.

The final track on the album is "Odds of Even." The song begins with a cacophony of indiscernible voices shouting, and the song itself reminds me a bit of "Into the Fire" from The High End of Low. "Odds of Even" is a perfect ending to the album because it is very reflective of his career. Death is inevitable, and even though literal death is quite possibly intended here, I believe it to be much more possible that Manson is referring to the death of his career as the Antichrist Superstar. Music critics and fans alike, as aforementioned, do not believe Manson as shocking as he once was. Part of that is due to the fact that he has definitely toned down his image and his sound within the last few years, but part of this can also be attributed to ageism. Even if he were to attempt to be as shocking and as head-turning as he was in his twenties and thirties, it is unlikely that most people would take him seriously, and no one can avoid this scrutiny, especially not a celebrity. The deluxe edition of the album includes three bonus tracks, but even though they have different names ("Day 3," "Fated, Faithful, Faded," and "Fall of the House of Death"), they are really just acoustic versions of "Third Day of a Seven-Day Binge," "The Mephistopheles of Los Angeles," and "Odds of Even" (respectively). I was a bit disappointed by that, but as a Manson fan, it is still worth owning the deluxe version. Some critics have surprisingly praised The Pale Emperor as being Manson's best album in a decade or so, and while I can't agree with that (Eat Me, Drink Me remains my favorite), it is a strong album that, although tame in comparison to albums such as Antichrist Superstar and Holy Wood, rightfully earns a respected place in the Manson discography.