You'd really like his last album "Pale Emperor".
Here's the review I did on this thread a couple of years ago...
Marilyn Manson - The Pale Emperor
Marilyn Manson – vocals and production
Twiggy Ramirez – bass and guitars
Tyler Bates – guitars, keyboards and production
Gil Sharone – drums and percussion
Additional Personnel
Shooter Jennings – additional guitar
Composition and style
In a January 2014 interview with Kerrang! magazine, Manson described the sound of the new album as being "very cinematic", saying that the "redneck in me comes out in my voice" due to the album's inclusion of "old blues" influences, while still containing the "harder elements" of his previous work. In a later interview with The Fader, Manson stated that he no longer "dresses [his] feelings in characters and extended metaphors", saying that he instead "lets melody lead" the album. He elaborated that he is "a man of few words on the record. What I hadn't ever found, till now, is the blues. The blues changed the way that I sang [on the album]. And the music has a melody and a language in and of itself," while lead editor Naomi Zeichner went on to compare the album to the work of Interpol and "the retro biker bar rock that soundtracks Sons of Anarchy."
That said...ANY time Twiggy is there...I'm in...John 5? It would've been GREAT to have him but he's doing his own thing now and won't look back. I've spun this 4 times and it keeps on getting better.
I'm going to take offense to Marilyn Manson saying he doesn't need to dress up with metaphors...BULL****! When he does it's spectacular! He conjures up Jim Morrison, Wayne Hussey and Layne Staley...mixes it down with influences of the Doors, Mission UK, Alice In Chains, Ministry and Nine Inch Nails and Shooter's Black Ribbons...chews it up and spews it back all chunked up in your face. He wants you to choke on it. His schtick has always intrigued me. How far is he willing to push it...how far will he go to shock you...how many times can he pull your attention back in for a second and third and forth glance and make you take notice? Well, on this he's earned the title The Pale Emperor. It fits. He's attained the perfect name. David Bowie has the Thin White Duke, Prince had his squiggle mark thingy and well, Marilyn has his Pale Emperor.
This release starts with all guns a blazing out of the chutes with "Killing Strangers"...a book end for "Beautiful People" of sorts...the imagery of
"This world doesn't need no opera
We need it for the operation
We don't need a bigger knife (a bigger knife)
Cause we got guns, we got guns, we got guns (we got guns)
We got guns, you better run
(you better run, you better run, you better run)
We're killing strangers, we're killing strangers
We're killing strangers, so we don't kill the ones that we love
We're killing strangers, we're killing strangers
We're killing strangers, so we don't kill the ones that we love"
Get the point now? Oh...and on this...there WILL be radio edits! Almost every track has it's F Bomb thrown in for maximum impact. The whispering background parrot vocals are a nice touch and the plodding bass and drums that the Black Keys ripped from their playbook...yeah. Its baaaack!
"Deep Six"...with it's
It's like a stranger had a key, came inside of my mind
And moved all my things around
He didn't know snakes can't eat a brain
Can't try to break the psyche down
Look, by now you know the formula for a Marilyn Manson song...this has an almost Alice Cooperish guitar layer to it from "Killer" and the Rob Zombie experience thrown in for updating!
"The Third Day Of A Seven Day Binge"...I don't think he's over his divorce with Rose McGown...who would be? Still..I got bullets, in the booth...Rather be your victim, than be with you...I got bullets, in the booth...Rather be your victim, than be with you...and he says he's over with the imagery??? HA!
Then it brings you to what I latched onto as one of the finest songs off of this..."The Mephistopheles of Los Angeles"...This is where you hear the Doors...The Cure...and his own style..."Lazarus has no dirt on me"...CLASSIC! A blend of "Love Street" and "Fascination Street" as he embraces his found hometown.
We delve deeper and darker with "Warship My Wreck"...this is what you've come to expect with him. Another layer of the onion is exposed and this tale is told with Edgar Allen Poe's glee...er, doom I mean.
Scars on my fingers, bruises by neck
Crashin' my chains, warship my wreck
Scars on my fingers, bruises by neck
Crashin' my chains, warship my wreck
Cut the hands off
Then kamikaze into your soul
I already warned you that I don't think he's over his heartbreak...the manner in which he delivers the "Kamikaze into your soul"...you see the pilot taking aim with his plane into the battleship...the descent dive...the look of determination as he knows full well THIS is what he signed up for and this is the moment he was born to die. Yeah...tell me one more time how you're not going to dress it up with imagery again? Please. You do it so damned well. You sell it perfectly. That's the attraction I think for his music to me. He does sell it so well.
"Slave Only To Be King"...his moment of acting wasn't wasted...he's good at it...he should do more...be more selective...he completely understands what the ancient Greeks were delivering. The killing of the King...the rise of that throne...the inevitability of the knife finding its way to your back. He was a good student and in that he's giving his spin...
Take my money like an ugly beak
Covered in my mind, but too dumb to see
A Fibonacci burnin' by your jealousy
I'm at the tip of my veins
"The Devil Beneath My Feet" is THE song where he earns his new title of Pale Emperor. Oh, he scraped close before but c'mon...this whole Satanic gimmick...he sticks it on the wall with this ditty...
When you look up, what do you see?
Don't need a mutha****a lookin' down on me
Mutha****a lookin' down on me
'Least I know wherever I go
I got the devil beneath my feet
Least I know wherever I go
I got the devil beneath my feet
He sells it. This song sounds like something the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club would've written.
"Birds Of Hell Awaiting"...A song with a lot to like. It's teeth sink like a rabid dog. Do yourself a favor...don't have this blarring on your car stereo going down some country backroads...you're going to get a ticket or come so damned close like I did this morning...foggy...sun poking through...swampy bogs on both sides of the road...it was nice and had my heart pumping...the cop pulling out of his hiding spot only added to the adrenaline. I kept looking in the rear view mirror...for "Death's desire"...he pulled off because I was able to sell the whole 70 in a 55 by never touching the brake and he wasn't gunning with his radar. HA!
"Cupid Carries A Gun'...look...I'm not even gonna post lyrics for this...find the imagery and just laugh along now.
"Odds Of Even"...this is the only song that I wanted John 5 onboard for...he was missed sorely on this and it missed big opportunities with this song. There's a layer that he would've added that knock-out punch. It's still a good song, but I'm just saying I think perhaps he should've told them to just let loose and let it flow.
"Day 3"...what happens when you strip it all down and embrace the acoustic dark side? Well, it would be awesome to see this as the last song...blast it as an encore...disappear offstage...come back after spending 10 minutes recuperating...make-up all washed off...lenses removed...costumes gone and deliver it as stripped down as the music does...it would only add to the entire "Imagery" mantra. It would be something to remember. He should've left this as THE last song on this.
"Fated, Faithful, Fatal"...this is for those of us that were there at the beginning and lasted through all of the songs...and understood the band for what it is and what it does. It's a "Thank You" to the fans. At least I want to believe it is. Again...he pokes in and out with lyrics from other songs on this to make sure you were paying attention...and there's that refrain from the Doors "Easy Street" played out on guitar instead of keyboards this time around.
The "curtain" closes with "Fall Of The House Of Death"...its a **** shame Kurt didn't use this song as the wrap up for "Sons Of Anarchy"...it fits so damned well...I'll let you do the math and add it all up and see if the sum attracts you like it did me. Another favorite for me on this one. He does the same as "Fated, Faithful, Fatal"...were you paying attention? He drops the lyrics that meant the most to him on this one too.
There it is...from a guy that waaaay back in the early 70's was in the Press Row between the crowds and the stage at an Alice Cooper concert...I got him back then...I understood KISS...and I sooo get Marilyn Manson. Don't really care if anyone is a fan because at this point he's not going to "win you over". A tiger isn't going to change their stripes and he's not going to alter the sauce because your poor stomachs can't handle it! For those that sop up the last of it in the bowl with a broken piece of bread...enjoy.
I did.
