Marilyn Manson

Eat Me, Drink Me

Written by: ASH on 24/06/2007 17:56:48

Not that I'm doing any band promotion, since this slot's reserved for Mr. Manson himself, but Scottish The Fratellis just said it all..."creepin' up the backstairs, mother's nightmare. Brrrr, I feel the exciting, yet thrilling sensation crawling down my spine as I push play and venture into the dark and eerie world of one of industrial horror rock's most known names. Both feared and cherished, Brian Hugh Warner has appealed to vast majorities of teenage rebels worldwide, with his frightening appearance and the rumors that have been following him ever since his shock-rocking debut "Spooky Kids" back in 1989. Which brings me to some other partially relevant fact before the review is kicked off: No, Marilyn Manson did not remove his ribs in an operation so he could take a closer look at his genitals. He considered it though, that's a fact. I'm sad to puncture another fanatic's wet dream, but that's just one of the fine tricks of the rock reviewing industry. Anyways, let's see what the cat dragged in this time.

After my virgin tour through Manson's home recorded collaboration "Eat Me, Drink Me", an album created between himself and his co-producer Tim Sköld, I sat back with numerous impressions, some confusion but at the same time also amazement. It's almost completely peculiar to me that a well-known Danish music magazine could send this grotesque artist off with the tagline: "the weakest album from the notorious Manson's hand." I'm not throwing my gauntlet at a fellow Danish reviewer, but even though a great part of the album may seem weak music-wise, the way Marilyn Manson proclaims his emotional self-projection through his lyrics is more than powerful enough for me to add some medals to Manson's dark uniform for tracks like "Putting Holes Into Happiness", "Are You The Rabbit?" and "Evidence". Of course, there's a fine line between a reviewer's subjective and objective thoughts and even a larger gap between what should be valued more than the other, but I simply sense more hidden power in Manson's sixth studio album. On the contrary though, the album in general needs more than "Heart-Shaped Glasses" to glorify "Eat Me, Drink Me"'s instrumental energy. Even though we're finely introduced to the album by the opening track "If I Was Your Vampire", the track builds up and at the same time breaks down the craving for a new "The Fight Song" or "The Beautiful People". Sadly, we have to bitterly accept that Manson's newest release has not focused on adding some really catchy sounds to the album, but when considering his focus on his inner self in perspective it mostly evens up. Nevertheless, Sköld delivers his part of interesting riffs and electronically produced drum beats on the album's eleven tracks, so everything is not lost.

Even though "Eat Me, Drink Me" is not something that you'll associate with Manson's past shock-rocks, he has finally decided to devote an album to pulling out a Freudian nightmare of subconscious feelings and life experiences into the light, exposing them almost directly to the public in the process. All in all, "Eat Me, Drink Me" is a mixed experience with some musical downs, but with solid emotional ups in form of the lyrical professionalism he manages to handle once again. And this almost evens out the lack of pure ear hangers. But be aware when recommending this to new listeners, since this release could be a more interesting experience if they have got to know a little thing or two about Marilyn Manson's past musical style before venturing directly into the soul of obscurity's manifestation.

7

Download: Evidence, Are You the Rabbit?, Putting Holes Into Happiness
For the fans of: Nine Inch Nails, Rob Zombie, Rammstein
Listen: Creep around his MySpace

Release Date 01.06.2007
Interscope Records

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