MARILYN MANSON: Mechanical Animals (INDUSTRIAL METAL): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

The least we can say is that Marilyn Manson likes destabilizing. Hiding a particularly deep reflection behind an extreme provocation, the singer and his acolytes surprise everyone again with a new opus as glam as its predecessors could be dark. No blasphemous cover, even if we can't say the same about the lyrics, but an androgynous and extraterrestrial being named Omega, subject of a new two-headed concept putting him in front of his reflection named Alpha. Captured on Earth, he is transformed into a rock star in a band called The Mechanical Animals, and influences Alpha's emotions, a representation of Marilyn Manson, by his actions. Add to that the fact that this album is part of a trilogy reversed with the two previous albums, and you have many reasons to trigger some headaches while trying to find your way around. It is however worth noting the influence of the Ziggy Stardust character on Omega, confirming Manson's admiration for David Bowie.

The influence of the man is also found in the title 'The Speed Of Pain', aerial and sad ballad with cybernetic choirs which is not without reminding Pink Floyd. Because Marylin Manson does not only disarm his audience on a visual level, but also by multiplying the changes of musical direction without sinking into an untangible chaos. Indeed, and this is not one of the least feats of this opus, "Mechanical Animals" remains coherent, a tortured journey in a world troubled by drugs and the insane delirium of beings trying to escape from a suffocating confusion. In this desperate quest, feelings collide, intertwine and sometimes explode in the form of anger ('I Want To Disappear'), or sink into disillusioned dances ('The Dope Show') or enraged ('Rock Is Dead'). This last track reminds us that provocation is an unavoidable face of the artist's identity, but this one is never free, always being at the base of a deeper reflection.

On the angry cyberpunk 'Posthuman' which sees Rose McGowan (Manson's girlfriend) participating in the chorus, the singer belches "God is just a statistic" aiming more at questioning the real place taken by the belief which is not necessarily where it should be.' I Don't Like The Drugs (But The Drugs Like Me)', with its solo interpreted by Dave Navarro and its chorus chanted with a formidable efficiency, translates more a despair hidden behind a disillusioned humor, whereas the "I'm not in love but I'm gonna fuck you 'til somebody better comes along" of 'User Friendly' are in fact the words of a woman holding the hero prisoner, slave submitted to her desires. Last surprise before a final rising towards redemption, 'Fundamentally Loathsome' sees Manson playing crooner on a surprising old-school ballad with waltz accents.

Imprisoned between a dark 'Great Big White World' introducing him slowly in a darkness with industrial accents, and the binomial composed by 'The Last Day On Earth' and 'Coma White' translating an escape towards a pallid light, 'Mechanical Animals' is a new monument from Marylin Manson whose provocative facade should not hide an intimacy at the same time tortured and artistically talented. Worthy of those works that refuse themselves to the followers of superficiality, this new opus is deserved and will let you discover its treasures as long as you don't fall into one of the numerous hidden traps it conceals. - Official website

MARILYN MANSON

MECHANICAL ANIMALS

INTERSCOPE RECORDS

INDUSTRIAL METAL