Pop, Psychology
May 28th, 2009 - Written by stevek
Marilyn Manson: High End of Low
After seeing then-teen actress Evan Rachel Wood at one of his concerts, Marilyn Manson purportedly wrote the song “Heart Shaped Glasses” in only a few minutes. The song was then featured on his last album, ‘Eat Me, Drink Me’.
But of course, the story of Marilyn Manson and Evan Rachel Wood didn’t end there; Manson’s marriage to Dita Von Teese ended as a result of his affair with the juvenile starlet, and thus much of the rest of ‘Eat Me, Drink Me’ was born.
Wood and Manson did briefly break up, and during that long, dark teatime of the soul, Manson started to think about “Having my soul trampled on by women,” and “Relationship-destroying statements.” The result seems to be an album that is a little all over the place. Some of the songs, such as “Pretty as a Swastika”, manage to recapture the powerful, violent energy that has always been Manson’s hallmark; but then there are songs like, “Running To The Edge of the World” and “Into the Fire”, which play like Goth breakup ballads. Add to the mix avant-garde sounding experimentalism, such as “WOW” and this is probably one of the most hit-and-miss releases of Manson’s discography.
While there is much on this album to like and to praise, such as “Arma-Goddamn-Mother-Fuckin-Geddon”, “We’re From America” and “Unkillable Monster”, there are also some songs that seem, at least on the surface, to be really odd choices for Manson to make.
Is Manson challenging his listeners or is he simply facing challenges in his personal life that have made their way into his music? Is it a bit of both plus something else? Only time and the veteran madman’s very public personal exploits will tell.
Marilyn Manson: High End Of The Low
Nothing Records
Steve’s Rating: 7/10
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Find arcitcles with similar tags: confront, confront magazine, drink me, eat me, edge of the world, evan rachel wood, high end, into the fire, low, marilyn manson, music, nothing records, pretty swastika, wow