Manson: Born Villain

Hey everyone, so being that he dropped the album on May 1st, I'm sure you've all seen Marilyn Manson's album artwork and track listing for his release, “Born Villain”, released via Cooking Vinyl Records.

"I feel like I did get to a point on my previous two records, not that I'm discrediting the music that I did or hating it or anything of that nature, I just feel that I started to change the way that I wrote because I wanted to open up. I was in a place where I could not figure out how to deal with being me. Me the person, not me as Marilyn Manson. Sometimes you don't know how the fuck to be yourself, because you're too confused by the circumstances you're in. Everyone goes through that (...) I realized that I started writing songs to make people feel how I felt, rather than just making them feel something. That's not the way I should do things. Especially because I felt shitty making those records. So I was basically making music to make people feel shittier, which in a sense with my sarcasm would be funny, but that wasn't my intention. If I was doing that on purpose... There are parts of this new record where I want people to feel shitty, where I use sounds that only dogs can hear that humans can't hear that actually make you nauseous inside, just because I was looking to meddle with people's reactions, but much more orchestrated from a directors point of view, as someone who wanted to tell a story, who wanted to tell people something that they would feel a reaction from." -Manson

Track listing for the album is as follows:

1. Hey, Cruel World…
2. No Reflection
3. Pistol Whipped
4. Overneath The Path Of Misery
5. Slo-Mo-Tion
6. The Gardener
7. The Flowers Of Evil
8. Children Of Cain
9. Disengaged
10. Lay Down Your Goddamn Arms
11. Murders Are Getting Prettier Every Day
12. Born Villain
13. Breaking The Same Old Ground

"With their eighth studio album, Born Villain, Marilyn Manson return from the depths of their mid-2000s limbo with almost an hour of the type of evil industrial and glam-infused metal they made their name on in their earliest days. While the band's blazingly controversial public profile died down tremendously since their late-'90s heyday, legions of devoted fans followed them through the next decade's bevy of changes. The departure of founding member Twiggy Ramirez coincided with a few of the band's weakest albums, and even his return to the fold on 2009's The High End of Low couldn't redeem a substandard record from what seemed like a flailing band past its prime. Born Villain sheds some of the more introspective leanings of prior offerings and accentuates all the throbbing rhythms, metallic guitars, and bilious disgust that defined the band's best work. Lead single 'No Reflection' screams 'comeback,' with Manson channeling a Sisters of Mercy vocal over the sinister pulse of the verses before huge choruses explode in darkly catchy bursts. 'Children of Cain' draws again on the later-period Bowie influence that defined much of the band's glammy Mechanical Animals album, and an unlisted cover of Carly Simon's 'You're So Vain' turns the FM staple into a gruesomely churning romp. Moments like these are the aural equivalent of a knowing smirk from the band, acknowledging that even the princes of darkness might have a lighter side. 'Lay Down Your Goddamn Arms' finds the band working in a curiously grunge-tinged mode, with sludgy riffs meeting huge distortedly melodic choruses that would fit in nicely with Badmotorfinger-era Soundgarden. All of these songs find Manson himself in typically depraved form, with lyrical content as sexually, morally, and socially devious as it's been since 2000's devilish Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death). 'Pistol Whipped' tells a tale in great detail of a sadomasochistic relationship and song titles like 'Murderers Are Getting Prettier Every Day' speak for themselves. Even while Born Villain is a return to form for the band, the album becomes tedious at right about the halfway mark. The songs are overly long and all rely on similar dynamics to propel their crunchy angst. Though sounding inspired and sonically rejuvenated in its best moments, as the album wears on one gets the sense of a band trying a little too hard to revisit its former glory. Without remaking 'The Beautiful People,' there's still a feeling that they're reaching to remember how to make a Marilyn Manson record and put the purgatory of their past few efforts behind them. All told, Born Villain is as valiant and exciting an effort as the group has come up with in years. While not reaching the dizzying heights of Marilyn Manson's early material, it suggests a band getting its legs back after a long period out to sea, and could lead the way to even brighter future wickedness." -All Music



"In any story, the villain is the catalyst. The hero's not a person who will bend the rules or show the cracks in his armor. He's one-dimensional intentionally, but the villain is the person who owns up to what he is and stands by it. He'll do the things that are sometimes morally questionable, but he does it because it's his nature to do it and it doesn't fluctuate. It's the fable of the frog and the scorpion, all those stories that just say, whatever you're going to be, stick to it in confidence. Don't waver or life will fuck you over." -Manson

For those like me, who are a fan of the artistic side of Manson, be sure to check out his latest music videos for the track(s) "Born Villian", as well as his newest videos "Slo-Mo-Tion" and "Hey, Cruel World"...

(*A word of caution to younger readers, nudity and the usual stuff you would expect from MM):


(Born Villain)


(Slo-Mo-Tion)



(Hey, Cruel World)

For more info, visit: Marilynmanson.com