Born Villain – Marilyn Manson
The AntiChrist Superstar attempts to find himself on 8th album
From the God of Fuck to the God of Fuck all? Over the
past 10 years Marilyn Manson has been on a Downward Spiral, destroying his
legacy and his infamous notoriety that made him the Anti Christ Superstar we
all know and loved. Whether it was his disastrous performance at Download 2009
(in which he made as much sense as Boris Johnson fronting Converge), to Eat me
Drink me which bombed and alienated his fan base by ditching the industrial
metal template and focusing on a more new romantic, gothic sound. His last
album “The High End of Low” was
defiantly a step in the right direction, but lacked the quality or edge of his
previous work. In this time period he’s lost members and seemed to loose his
ability to not only be dangerous, but also be entertaining. The question is
does the world still need Marilyn Manson?
By the account of his new album “Born Villain” the answer is possibly. Whilst still not having the
edge of his back catalogue this release at least ups the heaviness with tracks
like “Hey, cruel world” which see’s a
return to the anti Christ era sound. The albums first single “No Reflection” contains an almost
Rammstein industrial riff and see’s a return to the industrial 4/4 of the Manson
of old. Where this album falls down is on quality control, the album tails off
near the climax and becomes repetitive and ploddy with the albums title track
fading into insignificance. Manson, who is no stranger to covers caps this
release off with a cover of the Carly Simon song “Your so Vain” featuring
Johnny Depp, Seriously? Who wants to hear this in 2012? This interpretation adds very little to the original
and adds the Tim Burton effect (make something creepier for the sake of it),
ironic really when you consider who’s playing guitar.
Overall this is not the return to form that most fans
expected and wanted from Manson, but it does have encouraging signs of things
to come. He may never be dangerous again, but by the sound of this album he can
still have a role in contemporary music. Let’s just hope he can stop drugging
himself into the abyss and put on a good live show again.
Rating;- 6.5/10
For fans of:- Nine inch Nails, Ministry, Rammstein
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