Manson’s 6th studio album, Eat Me, Drink Me, is one of his best. Mr. Shock Rocker has matured from being an overtly outrageous spectacle with polarizing thematic elements, to songs that encapsulate the dark places that exist in everyone (almost).

While many reviews have slammed this album for not being the typical Manson work, I feel that this is exactly what is inherently wrong with music journalism- if the writers aren’t getting more of the same, they don’t like it. Eat Me, Drink Me is not the work of an uninspired, scared to shock anymore man, but rather a change of pace colored by a period of heartbreak and a blossoming new relationship. These are what Manson love songs sound like.

It is very apparent that the demise of his marriage with Dita Von Teese has influenced this album as much as the start of his relationship Evan Rachel Wood. Morose replaces anger in this album, making it a much more complex animal. Not to mention the influence of Lewis Carroll and Nabokov.

While still classifiable as industrial rock- with the synths and the heavy drums, this album shows a heavy indie rock guitar influence. Listening to the riffs in The Red Carpet Grave, They Said Hell’s Not Hot, and, in particular, Heart Shaped Glasses, you can’t help but think of Modest Mouse or Spoon.

Stand out tracks are If I Was Your Vampire, the single, Heart Shaped Glasses, Evidence, and You And Me And The Devil Makes 3.

I’ll be seeing Manson and Slayer in August, so stay tuned for a live review. It will be my first Manson show…and I’ve been waiting 10 years for it since the last time he came close to where I lived mommy and daddy banned me from going.

Nice Manson article in Spin here.