Marilyn Manson - The High End of Low
Interscope/Universal
It seems somehow fitting that Eminem and Marilyn Manson should release albums within a month of each other. Marshall Mathers supplanted Brian Warner as America's Nightmares Made Terrifying Flesh in the late 90s as far as the public was concerned (indeed, you might recall that Manson was held responsible for the Columbine Massacre in certain sections of the media). However, after seven years of the War on Terror, ecological disaster, financial ruin, the growing threat of extremism around the world – from hardline Taliban in the Middle East to the return of the Far Right across Europe – the notion of a popular musical entertainer as a serious threat upon society seems like a quaint throwback to a more innocent time.
While Eminem's Relapse showed a man unwilling or unable to harness more than shock tactics and tired rehashes of past glories, The High End of Low (his first album since his high-profile divorce from Dita Von Teese) shows a man still in control of his muse. That's not to suggest that he's progressing artistically, or even making exceptional music, but that's never really been the point. Marilyn Manson knows what his core audience is – angry teenage boys too intellectually superior for metal – and is still pitching at that level. The difference here, compared with 2007's patchy Eat Me Drink Me, is that he's reaching it.
Warner may be 40 years old, but The High End of Low shows that he's found neither peace or wisdom. His lyrics are still the self-indulgent bedroom scribblings of a kid who hates his parents and gets picked on at school ('Four Rusted Horses' declares that "Everyone will come to my funeral/To make sure I stay dead", and the self-pitying power ballad 'Running to the End of the World' is truly awful (especially when he croaks lines like "Sometimes hate is not enough to turn this all to ashes." Jesus).
It's when Manson focuses on the world outside that, as always, he does his best work. 'Blank and White' mocks simplistic us-or-them arguments, archly suggesting "let's shoot up the mall, the school, or whoever wants to fight", and 'Arma-Godd**n-Motherf**kin-Geddon' harkens back to the glam stomp of 'Rock Is Dead', sounding suitably post-apocalyptic with an opening guitar riff that's a woozy echo of Billy Idol's 'White Wedding'. And if you weren't aware that Twiggy Rameriez had rejoined the band, his telltale bass opens the Cure-alike 'I Want to Kill You Like They Do in the Movies'.
Those breathlessly declaring a return to the form of Mechanical Animals are overstating the case, and he might not have the same cultural cachet as he once did, but with The High End of Low Manson proves that there's life in the old corpse yet.
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