Reviewed by: Dom Passantino
Reviewed on: 2007-06-14

Posted 06/14/2007 - 05:32:40 AM by florenz6:
	On of the three worst albums I´ve heard in 2007!
Posted 06/14/2007 - 05:59:02 AM by meatbreak:
	I have to agree with you on pretty much all of this Dom, except your condescending opinion of Manson's interviews after the Colombine stuff, I mean a lot of them were actually very constructive; especially in the Michael Moore film where his opinions certainly helped to nullify a lot of prejudice about what he is intellectually capable of, especially for the people that wouldn't have anything to do with his music, and his opinions gave a very measured appraisal of the situation. But apart from that this is pretty spot on. I am so very disappointed in this man and the, as you say, evaporation of anything remotely challenging. It's not even like he's treading water (what a brilliant image). King Kill 33 off Holywood was a very interesting almost skit like track that he could have developed further, I’m still pretty hooked on the Death Song too, but it’s just been about tracing a rapidly fading template from there on out. At one point there could be no better pop star for the world and I always thought he’d have the dignity to finish on a high rather than drag himself around on dead legs, or at least move into soundtracking or develop somewhere further away from the pop goth world. It’s not the fact that ‘…the landscape has changed’ that’s the problem, it’s more what you say earlier; that he’s ‘been scared to actually do anything.’ I guess one major problem is that his specialist subjects don’t really include Terrorism as such, which has been the global concern for the last 7 years (coinciding with the beginning of the end for him too). Our new strain of terrorism is religiously themed though – that really is his hot topic and if he was still totally driven by controversy and challenging the world he would have made an album that fucking decimated the Qur’an and Muslim ideals the same way he did with Christianity. Clearly and again disappointingly I’ve got to assume that all he was good at was Catholic baiting based on the writings from Anton Levy’s little black books with a bit of Nietzsche for background reference, but he was really fucking good at it and his interpretations of Satanic dogmas and ideologies took them out of the realms of cultish dark magick and into the world of affirmative action and believable lifestyle. I seriously believe that Antichrist Superstar is one of the greatest albums ever made with it’s wealth of concept, even the superficial aspects like splitting the tracks into chapters and the imagery around it being immaculately conceived; the prose and lyrical content was startling, direct, relevant, passionate, insightful; that the combination of it all resulted in such moral outrage was confirmation enough that this was something truly great. The shift from black industrial to sparkly glam with Mechanical Animals was the indication that there was a potentially brilliant mind behind it all that would be a consistent inspiration. Consider this a bit of an obituary for his musical career from then on. Don’t forget though, that the guy was pushing 30 when he released Mechanical Animals and as every Rock & Rollist worth their salt knows (even Noel Gallagher has admitted it for Christ’s sake!), that past 30 you’re fighting a lost cause. Ah well, never mind. Perhaps this is why I’ve moved on to Black Metal. It’s never going to bother the mainstream audience like Marilyn Manson (unless I get my way), but it’s got all the other stuff that made him important to me - go get the new Bone Awl album Meaningless Learning Mess, it’s so catchy and propulsive and noisy and vital sounding. VITAL I tell you.
Posted 06/14/2007 - 07:35:09 AM by jerichomaxim:
	I'm not a manson fan by any stretch, but this review, like other negative stylus reviews, seems to review the artist more than the record. So, Dom Passantino, how does the record sound? what was your experience listening to it? what feelings did it arouse in you? Are you able to divorce the music from the band and judge it on its own merits, or are you not able to get past your prejudices?
Posted 06/14/2007 - 07:59:00 AM by smwynne:
	I don't mind that Dom didn't spend much time talking about the music, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt going in that this album was a pile of unmitigated shit.
Posted 06/14/2007 - 09:53:52 AM by truk2112:
	Even though I've never been a fan, it's been a little depressing to watch the downward arc of Manson's career. I remember when his every move was scrutinized, protested, or glorified. Dom is correct that Manson's shtick has not aged well or evolved to the point of renewed relevance. The beef with My Chemical Romance lacks the real (or perceived) conflict of his on-again-off-again relationship with Trent Reznor in the 90's. I cringed at his recent attempt to shock the world with his softcore porn video for "Heart Shaped Glasses," especially when it was rumored that (gasp!) he and Evan Rachel Wood may have actually had their naughty parts touching during the filming. It's just sad to see an artist who was so capable of being provocative and satirical be reduced to a parody of his former self.
Posted 06/14/2007 - 03:01:04 PM by gM.Ed.:
	Without any mention of the album, this is just a "review" or more appropriately, a history lesson
Posted 06/14/2007 - 05:18:49 PM by syurix:
	I dropped this album after about 20 minutes. Apparently, Dom did too because he just wrote about how manson the cultural force is irrelevant. Judging by what I did sit through though (and maybe this is all the skram that's percolated into my brain) I doubt he could even scare the MCR kids now, plus the cultural context and; when you think about it; cultural distribution structure that helped invent him (because, and maybe this review is symptomatic of this, he's an invented product first, a bunch of other shit second though fifth, and a musician sixth) is obsolete. Even if most of them aren't very good, I'm way more pumped to be in a time where the second tier of Hot Topic is dividing the oxygen Manson used to suck up single handedly among 20 bands rocking spikes and eyeliner instead of one unhinged ego rocking the lamest jive I've heard this year. He's still a pretty consistenly worthy interview though.
Posted 06/14/2007 - 05:19:14 PM by boilingboy:
	Criticizing Marylin Manson these days is like skewering George Bush: No one likes his music anymore. That said, it's rather unrealistic to expect him to go after islam on his records...just ask Salman Rushdie or those Scandanavian political cartoonists. meatbreak is correct in surmising that manson lost his balls. this is unforgivable for someone who's entire persona is based on breaking down the taboos in society. Waht did he expect was going to happen when he went after the Bible? of course there was going to be an uproar. You can't rattle the cages and then play victim when the animals don't like it. For a great summary of MM's music, I recommend The Trouser Press Record Guide entry.
Posted 06/15/2007 - 02:49:20 AM by meatbreak:
	If I was in Marilyn Manson, I'd call myself Dita Spector. Ha!
Posted 06/15/2007 - 04:02:23 AM by meatbreak:
	I change my mind - Dita von Klebold would be my name. The onlky other thing I have to add is to the people complaining their is no 'review' of the album here. I think Dom's done a pretty good job of providing a reasonable assesment of what the album sounds like through his 'history lesson', especially in the 4th paragraph which is errr..a description of the sound..but moreover the lamenting of the sad decline of Mr Manson's creativity, in terms of music, should give you a pretty good idea of how third rate this album is. I was expecting to be thoroughly disappointed and it met with my expectations. To say he's going through the electro-goth motions is a generous overstatement, considering the enourmous impact of his previous work.
Posted 06/15/2007 - 11:24:52 AM by meatbreak:
	Are we done here? Shame, but I guess so.
Posted 06/16/2007 - 12:40:49 PM by Zarklephaser:
	Ah, the best sort of condescending music review -- everything is subtly funny as hell, while also undeniably true and sad. Poor Manson, I liked the guy up through Mechanical Animals. I even thought Holy Wood was a pretty good one. These last two, though...Manson has really lost the plot, hasn't he?
Posted 06/17/2007 - 10:10:46 PM by Hexagon:
	He's an embarrassment to the memory of my youth. Get off the fucking stage, granddad. >.<