Marilyn Manson

The Golden Age Of Grotesque

Anthem of 21st Century Rage. Life is a (SCAB)-aret!

Review Score:

(10/10)

Worried that Manson may have diluted his harsh, grinding, eclectic, crawling-kingsnake vibe in favor of a more metal-swing approach? Fear not: the notion of 1930's cabaret music is more of a muse and guiding light than musical yardstick, and what we have in "The Golden Age of Grotesque" is vintage Manson, dark and spooky, with shrieking acid guitars and pounding bass slithering around Manson's trademark ghoulish sibilant whispers and screams. Sometimes the music sounds like a mutant T-Rex giving birth, and other times the band is tight and crisp and synthetic, but make no mistake: this is all about mood.

"Golden Age" starts with "Thaeter" (5/5), an appropriately sinister intro riff that sounds like some colossal wheezing proto-industrial bellows, ratchets up and launches "This is the New Sh*t" (5/5). This is pure Reznor influenced Mansonian acid-rock goodness, and sets the stage for the rest of the CD.
"mOBSCENE" (5/5) is a growling, riotous little number with what sound like a crazed zombie cheerleader squad in the background, and in my book zombie cheerleaders are a good thing, making this a rocking little number with lots of thumping power and shades of "Fight Song".

"Doll-Dagga Buzz-Buzz Ziggety-Zag"(5/5) is, with the exception of the title track, the strongest display of Manson's 1930's cabaret influence, and it bumps, grinds, and snarls, all while offering up toe-tapping good times. "Use your Fist and not your Mouth": (5/5) is my current favorite, everything you'd expect from vintage Manson: dark, pounding, delightfully cynical, offering up a riveting Mansonian political platform: "I'm on a campaign for pain/and when I get elected/I'm gonna wipe the white off your house/the smile off your face". I'd vote for him.
"Golden Age of Grotesque": (5/5) Starting off with a crashing, thunderous thump like some misshapen monster stomping upstairs from its dungeon lair, "Golden Age" defines the album with its wheezing, bellowing, lumbering hiss.

The remainder of "Golden Age" is equally impressive and Manson at his most cacaphonously refined; it is irrepressibly enjoyable. Of the rest of the tracks, I like "Ka-Boom, Ka-Boom" (penned to sate a studio suit who didn't think the other tracks 'rocked' enough; Ka-Boom is a charming little ditty that not only rocks but pokes fun at the song's inspiration: "I like a big car/cause I'm a big star/I'll write a big---rock n' roll hit") and "Vodevil".

All of this is nicely tied together with gurgles and shrieks and Manson's typical leathery flapping noises that call to mind some black winged drooling thing ready to settle on the faces of vulnerable sleepers. All of this makes "Golden Age of the Grotesque" another delectably sneering Mansonian jaunt into bombastic nightmare territory and a worthy successor to "Antichrist Superstar" and "Holywood".

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