Antichrist Superstar

A little bloated but there are some pretty cool songs on this one.

Een album dat al vroeg in mijn collectie zat. Eigenlijk maar vanwege één nummer: The Beautiful People. Inmiddels alweer even niet geluisterd, maar ook vandaag weer schiet het volume bij dat nummer automatisch naar standje 40. De automatische impuls om de rijsnelheid te verdubbelen, moet ik maar onderdrukken wegens het weer....

Een vergelijkbaar nummer komen we op het album niet meer tegen. Binnen het genre wordt vrij veel gevarieerd. Manson praat, zingt, en schreeuwt. Hij houdt in en gaat los.

Hoe rustiger en hoe digitaler het klinkt hoe fijner ik het over het algemeen vind. Zoals de dubstepachtige basis Cryptorchild. Daar tegenover staat bijvoorbeeld de herrie van het openingsnummer. Soms ervaar ik die herrie door het geschreeuw, maar meestal hebben misplaatste digitale geluiden een belangrijk aandeel.

Soms werkt het schreeuwen juist heel goed. Dan doet het me wat aan Korn denken. The Reflecting God is het tweede nummer dat met kop en schouders boven de rest uitsteekt. Het is vrij definiërend voor het album met het verspringen van rust naar omverblazend muzikaal geweld en met de verschillende vormen van stemgebruik.

Het aantal sterren is toch een kwestie van uitmiddelen. Daarmee kom ik op een harde drie.

If Manson was really Kevin Arnold’s best friend I’d have given this 5!

I don’t really know how to rate that.

Thematically, I think it’s a fascinating concept, and while it takes far too long to start moving along as a plot, the idea of someone who openly rejects fame before receiving it in spades, and using that influence & power to bring about the end of the world as he knows it, trying to usher in the delusional revelation of a new existence without the boundaries of life & death as they’re perceived… well, hold on, I think Marilyn Manson accidentally retold Neon Genesis Evangelion, actually. That’s a bit awkward.

Jokes aside, I do think it’s a fascinating album. I just wish it wasn’t a Marilyn Manson album. By all accounts, the man is a rapist, Nazi-adjacent, & just a powderkeg of controversy that’s never been controllable. His use of the N-word here, with a hard R, is somehow surprising & not surprising at all. However, listening to this album, & taking it as it is in a way that tries to separate the man from the music, no matter how autobiographical this seems to come across as… I dunno, I’m just stuck somewhere in the middle on it. Instrumentally, it’s a lesser imitation of “The Downward Spiral”, even if a few tracks get a bit close to replicating that album’s downtrodden vibes, especially with Trent Reznor’s production work. Vocally, I think he’s trying too hard, with a simultaneous rasp in his voice & a pitch that feels like shock for shock’s sake. Lyrically, I think this album provides the very case study for “stand for everything, believe in nothing”, with so many of Manson’s lines drenched in such cynical irony that it’s hard to empathize with his sincerity or truly engage with his thought processes.

And yet, despite all of that, I find myself drawn to the visceral honesty this album presents itself with; not in the sense of Manson being a pariah for some kind of counterculture that rejects life & death as we know it, but in the sense that his convictions are laid out here in a way that is authentic to himself, in his own mind. This album is not commercially appealing, nor is it sensibly written, but it is, for better or worse, one hell of a case study into the psyche of Marilyn Manson. Someone who feels freed from the boundaries & restrictions of a traditional life/death structure, while presenting that vision in such an auditory way, is fascinating to hear. While I don’t think I would find myself willingly going back to this album, I do think it’s an album worth listening to, if only to capture a sense of whatever small cultural zeitgeist this album may have invoked.

For the record, Marilyn Manson as a person can go fuck himself. I can’t give this a 5 in both good faith & from an album standpoint. I can’t give it a 4 because for as much as I’ve given this thing some praise, I find the first section of the album a little redundant, & the middle section of the album to drag along whilst he lays out the process of this “worm” taking him over & eating him alive to become the “Antichrist Superstar”. Ultimately, this album takes too long to get to its most interesting parts & that one use of the N-word is egregious.

I do, however, feel like I can give this a justifiable 3. I think there’s a small amount of tracks that do have some appeal outside of the full album, and I think the overall tone of the album shares that appeal, in some weird, weird way. The concept has legs, but I can’t help but wonder if another, less controversial artist could’ve tackled it with the respect it deserves, in order to feel like it’s worth engaging with more fruitfully. I don’t think I’d listen to it ever again, but I do feel like I’ve gotten something out of listening to it once, which is more than I can say for truly useless albums like “Devil Without A Cause” & “Haut de Gamme”. If someone wants to give this a 1 or 2, I’d totally get it. Hell, I thought I would give this a 1 or a 2 going into it, and I’m still very willing to go back down in the future. For now, though, I think I’m at a 3.

I didn’t expect to enjoy this so i was quite surprised i found the first half of the album ok. It’s fairly light enjoyable industrial rock.

That said the length of the album and similar music throughout meant my enjoyment waned quite quickly and from there it was a bit of a slog.
Would’ve been a far better album if trimmed to half the length

I had been doing so well at separating the art from the artist in this project until now, but fuck you, Marilyn Manson.

I saw MM at Leeds Festival in 2001, which ironically means I saw him duet with yesterday's artist, Eminem. I remember nothing about his set at all (it was the same year Rocket From The Crypt made people face the back of the tent "to experience the music differently" so it's not like I blanked out the whole weekend).

I like The Beautiful People. Everything is basically summed up as MM ripping off Nine Inch Nails, and I don't even like them very much.

This probably should get a 1.5, but, again, fuck you Brian.

1/5

This Brian guy stinks

Actually couldn’t wait for it to be over. The entire thing sounds the same, it gave me a headache and he’s proper rapey. Not really what you want when listening to music👍

Maybe music for angry, horny children is my least favourite genre.

Of all the metal albums in the world this one somehow made it to this list (probably because of the controversy surrounding it). While it has good moments, the album is too long and too obviously campy and try-hard to be enjoyable.

1.5/5.0: Bad

i did not expect to like this as much as i did. overall i thought most of the songs well performed and well produced. that said, the songs arent good enough to warrant the runtime. the fact that manson is apparently a terrible person and the repeated use of slurs in the opening track dont help. realistically if you cut a few songs this couldve been a 4 but as it stands its a 3 with a point knocked off for personal antics.

Lock this abuser up!

A very conflicting listen given developments in recent years. Listening now, it all smacks of shock for shock's sake and "look at me, I'm a freak, can't you see I am" posturing. When MM gets out of the way and lets the music do more of the talking, this does go hard at points, with Trent Reznor's contributions doing the heavy lifting in making the songs compelling. As far as industrial metal goes, though, there are ample examples of it being done better and to a less infringing degree elsewhere.

It started OK, then got less good as the album went on.

I think I listened to this whole album once in 1996 or 1997 and didn’t think much of it then beyond liking two songs (beautiful people, tourniquet). As an adult, it was a genuine disappointment to learn how easy the guitar riff for Tourniquet is / how everything cool about its sound is pedals or production.

Let’s see if the adolescent hatred hits more now, when I’m a middle-aged man!

And: embarrassingly, I did kinda like it.

ugh.

IF you can get past the part that its Marilyn Manson this is fitting music for its time and place. Well produced and a couple of really good songs in there.

If you cant get past the fact that its Marilyn Manson this is sophomoric edge lord try hard crap that was biting the industrial sound that was becoming more popular at the time.

I wish I could give it 2.5 stars as its neither a 2 or a 3.

Not the worst stuff ever.

This really did change the sound of the 90s for me. It certainly wasn't the heaviest, or darkest or even most provocative thing around, but the personality really gave it an edge. The Beautiful People will always be an amazing track.

when all of your wishes are granted, many of your dreams will be destroyed.