Album Details

• Artist: Marilyn Manson
• Album: Mechanical Animals
• Label: Nothing / Interscope
• Year of Release: 1998
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: solitaryman on 2011-11-18

Coming off of the drastic success of Antichrist Superstar, the controversial and much-discussed Marilyn Manson had a different beast in store for anyone hoping for more of the same. Taking a huge dose of inspiration from the glam likeness of David Bowie and similar artists, Manson set about to create a pervasive look into the stardom he had gained with Mechanical Animals. The second part of a confusing, jumbled but ultimately brilliantly done triptych, the stories being told are as much stories as they are reflections of a life that, in hindsight we can see, flew off the rails for a good period of time. Drugs, hedonism, the lonely illumination of the limelight, all aspects of Manson's life brought to vivid life with a solid collection of songs that are much more hit than miss.

Many have preposed that Marilyn Monroe, the famous starlet turned tragedy and half of Manson's namesake, was the true inspiration for most of the lyrical content of Mechanical Animals. It's easy to discern that in tracks like "Great Big White World", where the disconnection between the worshipped and worshippers is cut wide open. It's a subject that has been done many times in popular music, but Manson is none the worse for injecting his rather twisted and nihilistic viewpoint into the topic. He lived much of what you hear on this record, for better or worse. "The Dope Show" was immensely popular due to the creative and widely seen music video accompaniment, but beyond that it is a fairly catchy and submersive track utilizing a metaphor between drugs and stardom, how each offer a high and a consequential low. While many of the tracks on this album were lost among a swirl of successful singles and videos (Rock is Dead, I Don't Like The Drugs (But The Drugs Like Me), Coma White), much of the best written music is in the middle of all that. The title track is slow, ponderous and snarling up until a rather epic climax that sounds reminiscent of the harder edge many Manson fans were missing at the time. Tracks like "Disassociative", "The Speed of Pain" and "Fundamentally Loathesome" are slower, more brooding and depressive tracks that I grew so very much attached to in my youth. They still somewhat resonante today, and the best moments of these three tracks remain the best moments of the album for me. There are decent tracks beyond these as well, the high-tempo "Posthuman" and the ballad-esque, melodramatic "Last Day On Earth" are highlights.

While many were left bewildered at Marilyn Manson's totally unexpected and, according to some, unwarranted change in appearance, style and celebrity status, Mechanical Animals is a wonderful change of pace that still contains within the notorious air of infamy Manson has yet to remove from himelf, a shadow of a demon hovering over it's prey, only to cower in fear at the demon in disguise beneath it. Beyond the man, and looking solely at this work for what it is, you find a solid album of industrial glam/alternative rock that transcends genres at times, and at others simply rocks will well-paced and precise writing and playing.    

User Reviews and Comments

Review:

on 2012-07-16 damnittohell Said:

Mechanical Animals is probably the most visually distinct album from Manson. Remember the controversy of whether he was male of female when the cover art for Mechanical Animals showed Manson as an asexual creature with breasts?

However, by this time the public was used to the shock rocker. It didn't really surprise any of his fans that he'd gone androgynous, with a glam makeover. What did surprise his fans with this album though, is that his music was - well - funky.

The single "Dope Show" thumps with a four-on-the-floor, swanky groove, painting the perfect mood for a song about sex and drugs.

"I Don't Like The Drugs But The Drugs Like Me" could have fit in at any L.A. club in the 70's. With it's Bowie-esque funk, you can practically taste the cocaine running down your throat as your listen.

Finally the song "Coma White" shows a softer side of Mr.Manson. A minor-sounding guitar riff opens the song, and carries Manson's throaty whisper in an eerie fog. Only in the chorus does the song unleash the familiar power-metal of Manson's earlier work.

There are many more gems hidden within the album. The singles sell sex and drugs, but within Mechanical Animals is a lot more than that. One of the most dynamic Manson albums, you're just as likely to hear him screaming like a demon as your are to hear him whisper about his uncertainties with the world.

If you're in the mood for a little funk, a little goth, and a whole lot of Rock n' Roll, Mechanical Animals is for you. If not - steer clear. Though, if you saw Bowling For Columbine you'll at least give the smart fella a chance.


Rating: 7/10

Review:

on 2012-03-02 CharlesMartel Said:

I never really bought into the persona. Nor for that matter did I buy into the line that Marilyn Manson was responsible, at least in part, for the Columbine tragedy. That is simply a pathetic attempt to shift responsibility from the real culprit, namely the American obsession with a gross misreading of a 250 year old bit of paper which allows males serving in the local militia to carry a barrel loading flintlock musket - and nothing more. He always struck me as someone who was intent on getting what he wanted - fame and money - through being deliberately and outrageously offensive.

The surprise then comes with his fourth release, "Mechanical Animals". The deliberately offensive anti-Christian, anti-American, anti-humanity stance has gone. The grinding industrial sound of the music he made has gone. What replaces it are some snappy pop hooks, melodies and some fine riffs. It is as if Manson has decided to make his peace with the society he purports to loathe and which, without any doubt, definitely loathes him.

Now just as I never bought into his goth-metal persona, nor do I buy into this. Manson is no Saul of Tarsus undergoing a divine-inspired revelation on his own personal road to Damascus. Nor is he a figure like Queen Kristina of Sweden whose own personal agonies have led him to embrace what previously defined the antithesis of everything he is. No, I suspect Manson's sudden conversion is just another ploy  soften 'em up a bit so you can batter them with greater effect next time round.

That is not to say that the album is without any merit. If Manson's theatrical roots lay in glam rock age acts like Bowie, T.Rex and the like, then he has reverted his musical style on Mechanical Animals to a pumped up version of the same. More glam than anything else, Manson has put the art back into his music as he has scraped the make-up off his face. Tracks such as "I Don't Like Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" and "Speed of Pain" suggest a deep admiration and homage to Ziggy-era Bowie. Perhaps this is why he has ditched the face paint and gone for a look close to the androgynous Ziggy character Bowie created, right down to the sexless mannequin on the album cover.

Yet oddly, the typical Manson flaws are still there. In person, Manson comes across as articulate. All the more surprising then that his lyrics are more often than not trite and cliched. But despite that, this is Manson's best record proving once and for all that behind the usual persona he tried to create with "AntiChrist Superstar" there is someone who has some musical talent.
Rating: 6/10