Marilyn Manson
Mechanical Animals

THE REVIEW

A dying astronaut floating in the infinite space, burning like a moth in the light of billions of cold, silent stars.

The earth is a large, blindingly white planet, covered by millions of sparkling luminous capsules and insensitive mechanical animals wandering aimlessly through the universe. The astronaut has a name, and he has been sent to save them.

He is Omega, an androgynous alien with fiery red hair and eyes, a lost angel in the swirling void.

With such visionary images, Marilyn Manson begins the journey undertaken by him, Omega, on our planet. And on the sci-fi notes of "Great Big White World" the album opens.

The atmosphere is surreal as a sharp, inhuman yet sweet and at the same time suffering voice tells us with words of pure poetry and surprising sensitivity about his space pilgrimage. Amid magnificent distorted guitars and electronic choirs, the descent begins on that strange, unpleasant, and pale celestial body called Earth.

As the last sci-fi sounds are sucked away through electrical interference noises, the voluptuous bass of "The Dope Show" takes over. In perfect contrast with the purity and innocence of the first, this track is an orgasm of dystopia, epicureanism, and horrific sensuality. Omega finds himself grappling with the reality of that no longer human world. A scratchy and carnal voice sings over a futuristic, disturbing and engaging musical base. Drugs, fame, sex, are the laws that now reign over the planet.

But Omega is not one of the "Mechanical Animals", he is more human than they are. The title track is imbued with the melancholic romanticism of an impossible love, the certainty of being strangers and alone in a hostile world. "This isn't me I'm not mechanical" Omega repeats incessantly before being dragged by "Rock Is Dead" into a frantic nihilistic dance among cold robotic choirs. "Dissociative" opens an introspective parenthesis. Among noises of water sliding quickly over a glassy surface, and words of desolation alternating with a thunderous and disturbing chorus, one is carried away by a noise of blades. "The Speed Of Pain" is an acoustic guitar and female choirs that transform into mechanical voices towards the end, the sadness of the consciousness of being destined to succumb to the valueless society into which Omega has fallen.

The mechanical animals have indeed taken over, moving towards the destruction and transformation of Omega into one of them. "I Want to Disappear", "I Dont Like The Drugs (but the drugs like me)", "User Friendly", "Fundamentally Bullshit", and "New Model n.15" are proof of it: overwhelmed by earthly vices, and blurred by drugs Omega has become a nihilistic and fake being, a mannequin disguised as a Rock Star. Sucked into the Star System and the Show Business he despises, he plays at being a rebel and sinks into the sweet emptiness of narcotics. The revolution he was sent to perform on Earth is now nothing more than a commercial product. The planet is destined to die. "The Last Day On Earth" is therefore a track with a great atmosphere, reflective, inspiring tragedy. Acoustic guitars, sci-fi keyboards, and a degenerated, slippery, soft voice. Humanity has become a module, a robotized, automatized society. The planet is slowly turning off.

"Coma White" closes the album. A hallucination, a dream, a moral, a side effect of drugs. The atmosphere has now reached its peak, and in the chorus, it explodes leaving shivers down the spine. Manson's voice is pained, suffering, sharp, loaded with reproach, innocence, and tragedy. The last minutes of the record are epic, the guitar is heart-wrenching, the voice prophetic and determined amidst the drumbeats and the clear sound of the keyboard that gets lost in the infinity of space.

"Mechanical Animals" is the perfect sci-fi metaphor of Christianity. The messiah arrives to save but ends up being a victim.

Christ's revolution turned into a commercial product by society. The album is a hymn to drugs, the suspended and surreal atmosphere, a white coma. Marilyn Manson draws on influences from past musicians, but the final work is nothing already seen, but instead of disarming freshness and originality. Manson's complete musical and aesthetic transformation leaves critics and the masses, detractors and fans stunned.

Nowadays very few are capable of such feats. The work is curated in every detail, from the booklet that holds skillfully hidden messages, to the disc printed with the image of a pill, to the dazzling lights and colors of the concerts, where Manson wears space costumes and fantastic makeup.

It is a sci-fi epic, with meanings and concepts artfully studied among references to alchemy, numerology, and the bible.

A profound, exciting, surreal work.

It is impossible to describe what this album means. It is a drug, it is innocence, it is infinite space, it is the eclipse.

It is a pill that can make you anyone else.