Mechanical Animals
by Marilyn Manson

From paladisiac TOP 100 COMMENTER 12/12/2011 19:37 | #32768 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

"mechanical animals" was marilyn manson's "david bowie album" and probably lost him a few metal fans because of it. But for me, it's my favorite manson album, rising above the usual manson-whored metal template to put a glam sheen on depravity. That "rock is dead" song from the matrix is here, but there are other rockin' highlights as well. "Posthuman" (where he sings "god is just a statistic") match "rock"'s ferocity. The mood is set with opener "great big white world" with marilyn singing "In space the stars are no nearer / They just glitter like a morgue / And I dreamed I was a spaceman / Burned like a moth in a flame" adding synth FX after the first verse (and i like the squealing guitar/synth at the end). "the dope show" ("cops and queers make good looking models") and "i don't like the drugs (but the drugs like me)" (ha ha) were the post-"rock is dead" radio hits, but songs "new model no. 15", "the speed of pain" and "user friendly" ("i'm not in love but i'm gonna f*ck you 'til somebody better comes along") are just as wide-audience worthy. As usual with manson, it's a god, drugs & rock'n'roll show. The title track's repeated verse states "you were..as hollow as the 'o' in 'god') and "drugs" says "Our God is white and unforgiving / We're piss tested and we're prayin'" On the subject of drugs there's "There's a hole in our soul / That we're fillin' with dope / And we're feeling fine" I like the backing vox in the spacey, slow-build of "speed of pain" where "the crack inside your f@cking heart is me". But for my money, it's ironic that "rock is dead" is the best song simply being a pretty straight-forward rock song. This definitely non-metal style has since been abandoned by Marilyn, and it's a shame.

From philbutrin 08/22/2014 04:18 | #120072 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

in answer to the question "do you like Marilyn Manson's music", my answer would be "generally, no", but this album is an exception that suprises me and would probably surprise my friends if they read my list. this album came out in the same year as Hole's "celebrity skin", which is another example of an album i quite like by a band i don't usually care for. interestingly, they were both produced by Michael Beinhorn, who also produced the albums "hot diggity" by Raw Youth and "soul martini" by Cavedogs, two much-more-obscure albums that i also really like. so i guess i like his producing touch!

Music: mix Bowie's "Scary Monsters," Alice Cooper's "Welcome to My Nightmare," and NIN's early stuff.

Plot: throw Ziggy Stardust into the land of Disney's New Mickey Mouse Club music scene.

Result: brilliant!

It might've seemed like an odd choice at the time for Marilyn to go into a glam-rock direction but damn does it work. He wears his influences on his sleeve and it shows and it's for the better, probably his best record he put out of the first half of his career.

Best song(s): "Great Big White World" "The Dope Show" "The Speed of Pain" "I Don't Like the Drugs" "Last Day on Earth" "Coma White"

This album rebels against what Antichrist Superstar made him known for. Apparently, Trent Reznor got the credit for being Manson's "mentor", so Manson decided to use this album to re-define himself.