Marilyn Manson
The Pale Emperor

I was eagerly awaiting his return.
Since 2007, I've been waiting.
Since the year he had proven to have completely exhausted what remained of his trail of controversies that had characterized him since 1995.
With "ANTICHRIST SUPERSTAR" he hit hard.
Only Rammstein were more INDUSTRIAL than that album.
He captured, with the rawness of that masterpiece, the attention of the whole world for the following four years.

"MECHAN1CAL ANIMAL5", as much as it might present a different Manson than how the media had portrayed him up to that September '98, with a slightly more ironic and glam mood, left all of old Brian's fans, who had laughed in front of the photo cover's breasts, speechless.
"Rock is dead," "Dope show," "Coma white," "Great big white world".
Yes, damn.
INDUSTRIAL.
Beautiful tracks.

Then, at the dawn of the new millennium, little Brian took advantage of the Columbine massacre, which occurred about a year and a half before the release of "HOLY WOOD" in November 2000.
HOLY WOOD.
A title that refers to the cross of Christ;
A title that seems to allude to the "cross" that Manson had to bear during that era.
In fact, for those who still don't know, he was blamed for negatively influencing the violent behavior of the two boys responsible for the tragedy in Colorado.
This was his response.
Good.
Nice, that album was nice.
That was the album that closed the anticlockwise trilogy AS-MA-HW.
Very dirty, INDUSTRIAL, metallic.
If you have never listened to "Love song" or "A place in the dirt," I recommend "losing" 10 minutes of your precious life to do so.

Anyway, in 2003 he reappeared with another trashy (as much as exaggerated) INDUSTRIAL piece with which he tried to win back the fans lost after the ridiculous "Tainted lo.........well, never mind.
He managed that time too.
"THE GOLDEN AGE OF GROTESQUE" was his artistic triumph.
Dynamic work.
A more elegant evolution of its predecessor.

Ok.

Then, unfortunately, he started to induce my defecation.
And not just with his absinthe "Mansinthe".

I'm not ready to explain how useless the two, actually three subsequent publications are.
Only a few singles are worth saving.
"Four rusted horses," for example.
Even the famous "If I was your vampire."

And that's okay.

Since 2009 it became evident to me that the group's references were changing.
There was, perhaps, too much blues in their "INDUSTRIAL".
Theirs was gradually becoming a kind of alternative rock that was still called "INDUSTRIAL" by people who couldn't come to terms with the fact that the "reverend's" name couldn't be in the "alternative rock" category.

And here we are in 2015.
"THE PALE EMPEROR".

(It is an album that knows how to be both radio-friendly and raw – many songs were recorded in one take. «It's dirty, like the dirt under my
fingernails, like someone who has dug a grave», Manson told us.)

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Well......... it is dirty.
Like shit it is dirty.
Dirty like shit.

Jokes aside.

I swear I have no words.
I barely managed to listen to it twice.
This album is static.
Too much so.
Always the same damn riffs of that wannabe guitarist.

I mean.......it's not that bad.
But I can't help but think about all their epically INDUSTRIAL releases that marked the history of the last twenty years.

This seems like a completely forced work.

DO NOT DARE TO EVER CALL ANY OF THIS "INDUSTRIAL" AGAIN.

Listening to "The Mephistopheles Of Los Angeles"........I don't know, I simultaneously thought of his "Rock is dead" for the drums, "Stairway to heaven" for the initial arpeggio, and... Johnny Depp.
"Deep six" seems like a song developed specifically to be used in a swag commercial.
And I'm not exaggerating.
"Third day of a Seven Day Binge" feels a lot like the Strokes.

I don't know guys.
Change is normal in life, but you can't let go of an audience like the one Marilyn Manson had until 2003.

What a pity.
I really regret it.

"The Pale Emperor" feels like an album written entirely in two days.
I believe that many songs were recorded in one take.