Reviews
2003-08-10
Pop industry bad boy (or rock industry bad girl) Marilyn Manson. Definitely one of the most remarkable phenomenon on M.T.V or everywhere actually. He also gone a long way since his demo tape days. He learned to play for example… but mostly he started thinking in a more commercialized way and developed kind of a rotten parody Hollywood glam style.
“The Golden Age of Grotesque” is a piercing sarcastic social and personal criticism and Manson is using his music as well as his voice and lyrics as a tool for expression and criticism. For example “new shit” got this Britney Spears or Cristina Aguilera
Rhythm and singing style up to the point when one asks himself :”what the f***?”
And just then comes the typical Manson power chorus. Manson like using a combination of digitized loops and real live drums. By the time Ginger Fish comes in with the drums he’s got a lot of tension to release and he does so like a maniacal machine and blends just right with John 5 guitar. John 5 guitar sound is very highly produced and one of the best Heavy-Metal\Industrial sounds in the world in my humble opinion.
“The Golden Age…” is just packed with hits! Besides the well-known “mOBSCENE”, “new shit” and the infamous cover for “tainted love” there are more potential hits:
“The Golden Age of Grotesque” is an industrial murder ballade that reminds me Nick Cave. Manson gets to some interesting heights on the chorus and ends with “la la la”
The next track “(s)aint” is also a potential hit – mega chorus and a 80s style verse.
Also there are tracks like “doll-dagga buzz buzz ziggety zag”, “slutgarden” and “the bright things” all got high potential.
Manson maybe plays the psychotic card but he knows exactly what his audience wants. The album got 15 songs, all of them extremely hot, real high quality production. The actual madness manifests itself mainly in the live show.
Tal Galfsky
