Although the infamous shock rocker, Marilyn Manson, has yet to release any type of new material since his greatest hits release
Lest We Forget in 2004, doesn’t mean there isn’t anything of his being released out there.
Lunch Boxes & Choklit Cows is a compilation disc of previously unreleased material that was recorded in 1990 by Marilyn Manson and his band The Spooky Kids. After settling a lawsuit against Brian Warner (aka Marilyn Manson), original guitarist Scott Putesky (aka Daisy Berkowitz) obtained the rights to these old recordings and has announced that he will release a series of The Spooky Kids CDs with
Lunch Boxes & Choklit Cows being the first. The album originally came packaged with a bonus DVD and slightly different artwork (which has cartoon versions of Marilyn Manson and The Spooky Kids alined under the title). However, both the DVD (which showed footage of Marilyn Manson and former fellow band mate Stephen Bier) and the artwork (which the shock rocker created himself) were removed after a lawsuit was filed and Scott Putesky was forced to rerelease the CD.
The first of the polished demo tracks is
Red (In My) Head which starts off with a very fast drum roll followed by creepy samples and bass grooves that sound like typical Marilyn Manson. The vocals sound electronica throughout the whole song, which really gets annoying fast. The song sounds like a crazy carnival experience, and the kids would get nightmares. Definitely one of the Marilyn Manson rarities the world could of done without.
Dune Buggy starts off with some voice speaking in the background flowed by some distorted guitar work and bass grooves with what sounds like a cowbell in the back ground. Marilyn Manson’s voice on this song sounds more normal then they did in the previous track, but are not some of his best work by any means. The song is very fast and just seems to roll on and on. The song then hits a breakdown in which Marilyn Manson does some weird, high pitch singing over some soft bass tunes. The song has a good flow, but is definitely of demo quality.
Insect Pins starts with some ascending ambiance followed by a slow drum line and some gothic bass tunes. The song has a rather progressive feel to it, and is a lot slower then the other tracks. The production quality of the demo is not that good, but the performance of the band on the song is. Marilyn Manson’s voice sounds like it used to and still does for most of the song, and the bass work is astounding on the song. The song’s atmosphere is thick, due to the poor production of the demo, but overall is a good track musically.
Learning To Swim is another weird, gothic tune with some fast percussions over a beautiful, gothic guitar melody. The song then picks up into a rolling progression of heavy drum rolls and gothic synths. The song proves that the album can dish out some good, heavy tracks while still keeping the original Marilyn Manson sound.
By far the best track on the CD and one of personal favorites of Marilyn Manson’s work is
Negative. The song has a very mellow and dark guitar intro followed soon by drums and bass, giving it a very atmospheric sound. The vocals on the track are actually quiet astounding, and the production quality is rather good for a demo. The chorus kicks in with heavier guitar work and more scratchy singing vocals that still fit well with the song. Overall, the best song in flow, atmosphere, music, vocals, and production on the entire album.
Meat For A Queen is another track with a soft, light guitar intro followed by some heavy drum rolls that progress into some wacky industrial music. The song isn’t dark at all, even though Marilyn Manson’s vocals deliver some grotesque feel to the song. The song is very weak, and has a poor flow, making it an easy track to skip after listening to the intro.
White Knuckles is another speed demon of drum lines with out of place samples and electronic sounding vocals. The song has some amazing drum work, but aside from that is not much more then another annoying demo track with weak vocals and guitar work that is best kept locked away in the Marilyn Manson vault.
Scaredy Cat is another drum based track with more of Marilyn Manson doing his creepy chanting vocals with more of his “WTF?” lyrics. The song is better then a lot of the other tracks on the CD, but it has pretty weak production quality, which ruins it pretty much from being an above average track.
Thingmaker is easily the second best track, with the opening lyrics “Cross my heart and hope you die, stick my finger in your eye”, the song then gets a heavy guitar strum followed by a rolling drum line and heavy bass grooves. The vocals are some of Marilyn Manson’s best as far as harsh, raspy singing goes. The song is rather catchy and has a good groove to it that is easy to swing to. The lyrics are also some of the best as far as laughing quality is. Finally, the last track on the disc is
Thrift, which kicks off with spazzy guitar strums and electronics, giving it a video game sound as the drums pound in the background. The vocals are typical chanting from Marilyn Manson for the most part, but the synths mixed with guitar are the highlights of the song, due to their insane catchiness and atmosphere. Overall, the song is another good track worthy of a thumbs up.
Lunch Boxes & Choklit Cows is a compilation album for die hard fans of Marilyn Manson and nothing more, cause some songs are really good if you like Marilyn Manson’s unique, gothic stye of industrial music, and some are utter garbage one way or the other.
Pros
-- A great treat for any Marilyn Manson fan (if you have the bonus DVD version, which is no longer in stock)
-- Amazing drum work.
-- Some of the songs are really good for Marilyn Manson.
Cons
-- A lot of annoying samples that are unneeded throughout.
-- Weak guitar and bass on almost every single track.
-- Poor flow and poor production quality.
-- Some songs are utter trash.
Track Listing
1. Red (In My) Head (2/5)
2. Dune Buggy (2.5/5)
3. Insect Pins (3.5/5)
4. Learning To Swim (4/5)
5. Negative (5/5)
6. Meat For A Queen (1.5/5)
7. White Knuckles (2/5)
8. Scaredy Cat (2.5/5)
9. Thingmaker (4.5/5)
10. Thrift (4/5)
