Marilyn Manson - The Golden Age of Grotesque

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Music reviews of The Golden Age of Grotesque

Music Review: Not his best but..
Rating: 3 Stars

Get real.

To compare any of Manson's work to his previous efforts is completely ridiculous and if you think it's not absurd, you obviously are missing the point and you aren't a fan. Sorry, sad to say. You can bash any of his albums, cool, that's your opinion but to hate it just because it doesn't sound like another CD is just ignorant. Onto the review.

The album starts off with "This Is The New Sh*t", many believing to be Manson's commentary on his own music but really proves to be an accurate description of MTV and mainstream radio. "mOBSCENE" is the obligatory "radio friendly unit shifter" of the album and just sounds like a bad "Beautiful People." But then again, in order to sell anything nowadays, an artist must sell out a little with their chosen single to get people interested, right? Maybe Manson has been hanging around Eminem too much? Hm..

But then the album picks right up. In a BIG way. "Doll Dagga Buzz Buzz Ziggety Zagg" is a great song, EXCELLENT lyrics, Burlesque refrences, the whole bag. Plus they blended swing music with industrial rock VERY perfectly. It starts giving the album the feel of the concept at hand. "Use Your Fist and Not Your Mouth" is excellent, only flaw being that it doesn't have much lyrics, but the lyrics it does have are VERY good. "The Golden Age Of Grotesque" is easily the albums best track, not sounding like anything I've really heard before. With the off beat singing, (influenced by digesting Absinthe) it stands for what his era in Manson history is: pure fun, letting it all hang out, not delivering a message for once and just having a good time. Amazing.

"(s)AINT" is the shot to Rose McGowan that we knew the album would have. It's an OK track, just a mood killer after we were smacked with three amazing songs in a row, but that's to be expected, because this is another obligatory single. "Kaboom Kaboom" could've really been left off the album, but "Slutgarden" and "Spade" save the record fast. "Spade" especially, with great song writing ("all my lillies mouth's are open, like they're begging for dope and hoping, their bitter pedal chant "We can kick, you won't be back/ I'm a diamond that is tired/ of all the faces I've aquired") and a perfect chorus. This really reminds me of a Mechanical Animals out take, a very deep emotional song with superb lyrics.

"Para-Noir" wouldn't be bad if it was shorter but the length of this track is horrible. Good chorus and all, but Jesus.. "The Bright Young Things" sounds like something Manson would've made during (yes) the ACS era for a movie soundtrack. Great lyrics again, heavy hitting music and Manson's trade mark "I'm mad at the world so here's a mirror for you to look into" song writing. "Better Of 2 Evils" is a silly almost "rap" song which is OK, just not for repeated listenings. The powerful "Vodevil" follows with Manson getting as personal on record as he's ever gotten. This is one of the best tracks on the album and closes out the album nicely, along side "Obsequy", an instrumental number with hidden messages all around.

All in all, is it Manson's best? No. That spot is saved for Antichrist Superstar, of course. But is it a great album? Definitely. It has a few flaws but so did 2000's "Holywood" which was a great record none the less. Anyone saying Manson's song writing has declined needs to take a listen to "Doll Dagga Buzz Buzz Ziggety Zag", "Spade", "The Bright Young Things", "Golden Age Of Grotesque" and "Vodevil." The words are still powerful, just less serious. Tim Skold holds his own as well. Not listening to this music biased towards Manson because of who left the group and leaving what you expect at the door (Isn't that what attracted us to Manson anyway?) and you might really enjoy this album. Manson could've done much worse and much better but delivered the goods once again despite that.

Description of The Golden Age of Grotesque

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