2/5
Dear Marilyn Manson,
Please don’t gut me and hang me by my intestines for saying I didn’t like your new album.
It’s not that you’ve mellowed with age: ‘We’re From America’ drips with contempt, seething with lines like ‘We don’t believe in credibility/ Because we know that we’re fucking incredible.’ Grinding guitars drench you in industrial sludge, and there’s that ice-cold sneer (you must’ve spent hours practicing in front of the mirror).
But then you start repeating yourself on five-minute tracks only half-filled with content. ‘Arma-goddamn-motherfuckin-geddon,’ is a dangerously slow jam, with blank-faced delivery feebly stabbing at twisted, aborted pop. But while the track isn’t a head-banger, it’ll pass for your minions ‘mdash; unlike the video. That cacophony of self-indulgent clips of you as a hooded outcast molds over faster than a body six feet under.
‘We’re from America’ lacks Mechanical Animals’ serial-killer edge, just regurgitated sludge of those firey, hot-button controversies you once devoured with such irreverence and uncompromising satire.
Manson you don’t have to scream ‘FUCK!’ to get my attention. All I need is some slow, solid head banging. It’s really too bad the tickets aren’t worth it anymore ‘mdash; or the gas it would take to road-trip north.
Marilyn Manson will perform live at the Glen Helen Pavillion in San Bernadino on July 12.