Record Recap: Marilyn Manson/The High End of the Low  

by hardrockchick [about 8 months, 13 days ago.]

First let me get this out of the way- I HATE the cover art for this album. What is going on there?

On the other hand, I kinda like the album name. Mostly because I think it’s a good descriptor of the album itself (it’s not good but it’s not bad), Manson’s state of mind (coming out of a depression), and hopefully, a foreshadowing for his career (on the upswing from a low point, perhaps?).

I actually liked Eat Me, Drink Me. I thought it was a good change of pace, ‘Manson Unplugged’ if you will. However, I expected this next album to go back to the angry industrial Manson, when it actually is sort of splitting the difference. The result is a couple great songs, a couple terrible songs, and an all around lack of cohesion. It’s already been said, but there is a lot of repetitive stuff going on in this album.

Arma-blah-blah: I kinda like the beat, the psycho surf trip start, but the lyrics just kill me. All of them. No fucking and eating it for me, thanks.

Blank and White: It’s ok…..not terrible, but not memorable. It feels too shallow lyrically.

Devour: Me likey this one. Feels like it could have fit on EM,DM. The chorus is a bit generic and odd for Manson’s vocals, but I appreciate it. It ends strong, but the sudden cut off kinda bugs me.

Four Rusted Horses: Unexpected and I like it. It’s got the acoustic element blended with the industrial element and it sounds pretty powerful and unique.

I Have to Look Up Just to See Hell: This is an album of insanely long song titles. The beat is good- strong drums, bass, sounds more like old school Manson here.

I Want to Kill You Like They Do In the Movies: My favorite song by far. I’m sad they will probably not play it when I see them considering it’s nine minutes long. I like the way that Manson’s voice and the guitar seem to be in a race, fighting for the lead throughout the song.

Into the Fire: These lyrics REALLY bother me. I ain’t even gonna repeat it.

Leave a Scar: It’s a really poppy song for Manson lyrically. It’s catchy, but I feel like it is for the wrong reasons.

Pretty as a Swastika: I have mixed feelings about this song. It’s a good metal song, but it feels very surface level shocking, ya know what I mean?

Running to the Edge of the World: Starts out almost like ‘Wild Horses’….which is weird, then it turns into a Monster Ballad…Like Extreme ‘More Than Words’ style. Also weird.

Unkillable Monster: The title made me think I was getting something different than a slightly angry ballad.

We’re From America: Extremely catchy, extremely repetitive. Kinda tired of this theme right now.

Wight Spider: A solid song. The pace of it makes it stand out from the rest of the tracks. The name intrigues me….as do the lyrics. Hmmm….

WOW: Has Manson been playing World of Warcraft? This song is fucking weird. It has Jeordie written all over it. Which means there is something sort of endearing about it, but I’m scratching my head a bit. And shaking my ass a little.

15: I really want to like this song. But I feel it is lacking something and I don’t like hearing Manson talk about his birthday. It’s just too soft for me.

Because HRC has something chemically weird about her, and tends to not fully understand songs until she has seen them live….we’ll see how my two date following of Manson goes in early July…

Genre(s): Thoughts on Albums

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