Hello World! This is my very first review. I hope you all like it. Criticism is appreciated.
Antichrist Superstar is Marilyn Manson’s second proper album. It’s got a fairly grandiose concept, but lyrically all the songs stand on their own when necessary. Personally this is my favorite Marilyn Manson and one of my favorite albums of all time.
The album starts off with The Irresponsible Hate Anthem. The live intro and explodes into a highly aggressive song with a vicious guitar line and a bludgeoning drum beat. What makes makes this song great is that the guitar drops out for the verse to let the bass guitar and drums show off the rhythm. The chorus is my favorite part. The whole band minus the keyboards start up again at full throttle complimented nicely by Marilyn screaming “F#$K IT!!!” at the top of his lungs. I love the lyrics on this track. They laugh in the face of those they offend and they mock those who only like them for their rudeness. My only problem with this song is that the guitar and the drums’ tones often sound too messy together. 3.5/5
The Hate Anthem blends smoothly into the odd sounding keyboard intro for The Beautiful People. The song starts out with its easily recognizable and highly contagious drum beat. When I listen to it I find it hard not to tap along with my fingers (much to the dismay of my teachers). The guitar riff is heavy, simple, and yet completely flawless and Marilyn’s vocal display is also excellent. So what if he can’t hit virtuoso style notes all high up on the scale? He can bring across a mood or a feeling for a song so well and his use of voice effects are highly effective (at least on this song.). He’s got a very distinct vocal style. You’ve got to give him credit for that. 5/5
Next up is Dried Up, Tied Up and Dead to the World. It’ s a catchy song with an industrial sounding drumbeat in the verse and a great chorus. This is one of the songs that uses the keyboards to full effect. Along with Marilyn’s droning vocals they set a very depressing mood. That’s one of the things about this album that I don’t like. A lot of the songs have barely audible keyboard lines or omit them completely. What a waste of a perfectly good goth with a keyboard guitar. The song ends well though, with heavy palm muting and menacing vocals. 4/5
Among my friends Tourniquet is the undisputed favorite. The keyboards and guitar make a painful whine complimented by a great bass line. Marilyn’s vocals are also stellar, alternating between his whiny whispers and even more whiny screams. I swear it sounds better then it looks in writing. 4.5/5
The first song in Cycle II is Little Horn. It’s another vicious head banging track. The guitar intro has a great deal of kick to it. After a little while Marilyn comes in with a threatening vocal line. After that the bass and drums come in to complete this highly hostile track. The chorus is also super heavy. Unfortunately the guitar tone and drum tone don’t work too well together and come across sounding unclean. Even so, it’s a refreshing break from the previous two depressing tracks. 4/5
The mood of the album takes a turn back into depression with Cryptorchid. The drums have a fair amount of distortion on them. The keyboard sets up a really eerie tone. Marilyn counting up and down in a very low voice in the background adds to the effect. Then everyone drops out except the drums that start up a “heartbeat” sort of thing with the bass and tom. They are joined by what I think is a pan flute. Finally some sort of high-pitched distorted choir comes in repeating it’s self over and over again. This song is really brooding but it doesn’t go anywhere and can’t stand on it’s own. 3/5
Deformography has a neat intro with cool keyboards and whispered vocals. It leads into a heavy verse with thumping bass and creepy vocals. I don’t like the chorus too much though. I just can’t get into the organ style keyboards. The vocals see Marilyn alternating between screaming and whispering. The interlude is also very heavy. All in all this song has heavy guitar and bass, but the keyboard tone ruins it. That’s just me though. 2.5/5
Wormboy is for sure one of my favorite tracks on this album. It starts off with a rocking, clear guitar line and Marilyn talking in gibberish. The verse has a cool military style drum beat and groovy keyboards. What I really love about this song is the way Marilyn throws his high pitched little kid style voice into the verse to freshen things up. The chorus is high point with powerful guitar tone, a neat keyboard line and excellent vocals. The way he alternates his singing style is really great. The only flaw is that the lyrics are a touch repetitive. 5/5
Mister Superstar is a depressing, twisted sort of love song. With another cool military style drum beat and angry vocals. The chorus sports a super heavy guitar line but the tone is way too messy. The keyboards, drums and guitar don’t sound good together at all. Even so, the vocal performance is very good. 3.5/5
Another high point on the album is Angel With Scab Wings. The guitar is clear enough and easy to tell apart from the keyboards. Marilyn makes excellent use of voice distortion on this track. I think this is his best performance of the album. The pre-chorus has a bludgeoning drumbeat with frantic raging vocals. It leads into a heavier palm muted chorus with screamed vocals. The high point off the song is when everything pauses for a moment and all you hear is a quick inhale that explodes back into the pre-chorus. 5/5
I couldn’t ever get into Kinderfeld. It was sort of creepy but had no climax and little structure. I found it repetitive and boring. I usually skip it. 2/5
The title track, Antichrist Superstar is my second favorite off the album. The guitar part is simple, yet extremely effective. Zim Zum hits the same chord twice and the crowd goes “HEY!”. It’s amazing how well it works. The verse shows some heavy guitar and a menacing groan for a vocal line. The pre-chorus has some angry screaming. The chorus has a lot of different vocal tracks that blend together nicely along with a raw powerful guitar line. The intro is used to end the song and slowly fades into a chorus of distorted voices all repeating themselves. 5/5
1996 picks up where Antichrist left off with a killer intro. Marilyn moans “Light a candle for the sinners, set the world on fire.” and the starts to laugh. At that point the guitar kicks with a high tempo assault. The verse is very catchy with defiant angry lyrics. The chorus is my favorite part with fast and potent guitar and frantic vocals. 4.5/5
I never listened to Minute of Decay much. The bass line sets a very dark mood. True to form the lyrics and vocals are also depressing. Not much guitar or keyboard here. The bass steals the show. 3.5/5
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Second to last on the album comes my very favorite song The Reflecting God. It starts off with a driving bass and drum line. Marilyn’s vocals are very angry and hateful. Then the song explodes into a viciously destructive chorus complete with angry shouting and defiant lyrics. The first time I heard this song I threw my neck out by banging my head overzealously. The drums are stellar and compliment the bass perfectly. This is easily the best song on the album. 5/5
The album ends with Man that You Fear. The gloomy piano and the sad vocals make this song painful to listen to. It’s relatively slow and has very nice climax. The choirs of distorted voices make this song terribly downbeat. It’s a good note to end the album on. 4/5
There you have it! My very first review. Sorry about the length (it’s hard to do a short review of an album with seventeen full songs.) I think this album is a very good buy. It’s fairly old so they can go for as low as 10$. If you have time I recommend these tracks:
The Beautiful People
Tourniquet
Wormboy
Antichrist Superstar
The Reflecting God
Adios!
