Marilyn Manson returns to the metal world with his self proclaimed 'comeback' album "Born Villain". In the past 5 or so years Manson has been a bit under the radar in terms of shocking the world and doing his goth shock rock metal music that he is well known for doing. His 2007 album "Eat Me, Drink Me" was the first album that diverted off the beaten path. It was just Manson and Tim Skold doing all of the work and much of it went in a goth-rock direction rather than the usual goth hard rock/metal style Manson is known for. It pulled elements of gothic romance, 80's new wave, and 70's rock into the music and made Manson seem like a mainstream household name instead of the shock goth rocker your parents hated. It also made manson seem to have this emotional human side to him. From there Manson went on to create "The High End of Low". This album continued with the more mainstream rock music and the emotional human side but this time the whole band was in on the album and it showed Manson as maturing and slowly returning to form. I certainly enjoyed both "Eat Me, Drink Me" and "The High End of Low", but as a fan I felt both of those albums received a bit of unnecessary negative reaction and hasty judgement from the fans. I can agree on one point, they weren't Manson in his true form. But as a musician I really enjoyed the work on those albums. I felt while there not true form Manson music, they're Manson in a new direction.
On that note we come to his current album, "Born Villain". Manson himself has stated that he feels this album is his 'comeback' album. His return to the true form of Marilyn Manson music. I have to agree. While It can take a few listens to really get into it and understand the music, Once you do, it doesn't disappoint! Manson's true form music has your hits, your average songs and some crazy stuff of which you don't really know whats going on. The true form Manson music also has very dark, gothic tones of which are very much present on the new album. "Born Villain" feels like he's getting out of the mainstream rock music and getting back to letting your parents hate him. It feels like a cross between "Mechanical Animals", "Holy Wood", and "The High End of Low". However the album does not dive into the early albums of "Portrait of an American Family" or "Antichrist Superstar". Since Mechanical Animals, Manson has yet to create an album like Antichrist or Portrait of which feels like death, suicide, killing, torture, depression and all the grotesque gothic themes.
"Born Villian" is a very mature, evolved, creative album. It shows how much his music has matured and evolved over the years and it shows that Manson hasn't got stagnant or stale. Some people say that Marilyn Manson and his music have lost the shocking appeal that fans were drawn to in the beginning and therefore Manson just isn't good or as good anymore. I say shock appeal wears off as time goes by and people get used to new forms of music and begin to accept them which devalues the shock appeal. You could call Elvis a shock rocker and when people got used to it and became more accepting of him, he was hardly shocking. While this album may not be the shock rocker that "Antichrist Superstar" was, it is certainly not to be overlooked in the Manson catalogue. As a fan, I highly enjoy Born Villain and would put it as one of Manson's best albums. Would I like to see a return to the Portrait and Antichrist music sometime? Or a return to the shock and horror that once was Marilyn Manson? Sure, it would be nice but if Manson never does that, I am completly happy with whatever he decides to make. Unless of course he takes a hard left into a tree and creates a Metallica/Lou Reed "Lulu" style album. Then it would be time to think retirement even before thinking of making that album.
Marilyn Manson - "No Reflection"
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