Spouting off a quick bio of Marilyn Manson seems to be an exercise in futility. Chances are even if you’ve lived under the proverbial rock; you’ve heard the name Marilyn Manson and are probably quite educated on him. Whether good or bad, Mr. Manson and his revolving door of band members have become a household name worldwide. Born Villain marks the 8th time, Marilyn Mason (the band) has graced us with a full length album in 18 years and in many ways, it’s like they have come full circle.
To get right to the point, this is the Manson album I’ve been waiting for since 2003’s The Golden Age Of Grotesque. That album, which is criminally underrated, was the last time Manson put out an album that was remotely interesting. It was heavy and relied more on a straight forward style of song writing rather than play with weird sounds and melodies that Marilyn Manson was known for. 2007’s Eat Me, Drink Me was such a departure from anything Manson had done before and was really only created by him and Tim Skold, that I almost want to just chalk it up as a solo record. The entire album was too repetitive, it was slow and over emotional. In one aspect I can respect it for its artistic expression but as someone that wants to be entertained by my music, it was a total bore. The High End Of Low, released in 2009, was a huge improvement but due to its very mid-tempo pace for the entire length of the album, I wasn’t nearly as impressed with it as I could have been, especially with it marking the return of Jeordie White (aka Twiggy Ramirez).
Born Villain marks the return to a sound that is more in line with a classic Marilyn Manson record. The tempo changes from song to song and has a much more uplifting feel to it. At times it really reminds me of Mechanical Animals, the last Manson album to be referred to as “great”, with its use of glam punk type riffs. White seems to even channel his inner Daisy Berkowitz and lays down some guitar parts that sound like they were throwaways dating back as far as the Portrait Of An American Family days. You can also hear the influence of Jeordie’s days with Trent Reznor take effect on this record. It didn’t help matters that former NIN member, Chris Vrenna was the other main song writer as well. There are plenty of times that this record reminds me of With Teeth and Year Zero, most notably with the incorporation of a more disco-dance like percussion approach.
Lyrically this album seems to be Manson’s way of finally dealing with the fact that he’s always going to be the bad guy. He seems to mock the idea of him being the villain and even prods at the claims of his own arrogance and ego. He stated in interviews that he felt “shitty” while making the last two records and this was his chance to take a step back and be himself for a change. I don’t know if it was intentional but I found humor in a bunch of his lyrics in the sense that I felt like he was making fun of himself. Hopefully I’m not too far off with my assumptions because it’s nice to see when an artistic doesn’t take himself too seriously all the time.
This album is what Manson fans of old have been craving. It’s the return to a form that has been missed for nearly a decade. It’s not going to do much to win over new fans but for those that fell out of touch with the band since the days of The Beautiful People and The Dope Show; this is the album to come back to. It has a style and attitude that is very reminiscent of those days.
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