{"id":4783,"date":"1998-09-14T00:00:59","date_gmt":"1998-09-14T00:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=4783"},"modified":"2013-06-01T15:07:37","modified_gmt":"2013-06-01T15:07:37","slug":"album-review-marilyn-manson-mechanical-animals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-marilyn-manson-mechanical-animals\/","title":{"rendered":"MARILYN MANSON – Mechanical Animals (1998) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

MARILYN MANSON
Mechanical Animals<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nInterscope (1998)<\/span>
Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Following the macabre Antichrist Superstar<\/em><\/a> (October 1996), Marilyn Manson<\/a> stepped away from his relationship with Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor. Enlisting producer Michael Beinhorn (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundgarden, Hole), the band relocated to the Hollywood Hills. With its excess of plastic souls, drugs, and paparazzi, the new surroundings provided the ideal locale for the second chapter in Manson\u2019s trilogy of records.<\/p>\n

With an unquestionable glam metal sound, Mechanical Animals<\/em> borrows heavily from David Bowie\u2019s Diamond Dogs<\/em> (April 1974). Creating characters Alpha (Manson himself) and Om\u0113ga (an androgynous alien), Manson\u2019s affinity for Bowie\u2019s alter ego Ziggy Stardust is obvious. The concept this time out intertwines Manson\u2019s own depression and alienation following the aggressive darkness of the Antichrist Superstar<\/em> era, with that of the over-the-top and drug-induced California lifestyle copped by the movie stars that surround him.<\/p>\n

Opener \u2018Great Big White World\u2019 and its atmospheric detachment set the stage for the band\u2019s new direction. The swagger of lead single \u2018The Dope Show\u2019 is followed by the jagged commercialism of the T. Rex influenced title track. \u2018Rock Is Dead\u2019 and its syncopated rhythms are reminiscent of \u2018The Beautiful People\u2019 from 1996. But it\u2019s the album\u2019s lighter moments that not only display Manson\u2019s vulnerability as a lyricist, but also shows what it\u2019s like to be human in a confounding world. \u2018The Speed Of Pain\u2019 employs synthesized vocals in its chorus to lingering effect, and the poignancy of lines like \u201cShoot myself to love you \/ If I loved myself I\u2019d be shooting you\u201d<\/em> from \u2018Fundamentally Loathsome\u2019 keep his penchant for wordplay intact. \u2018The Last Day On Earth\u2019 is an otherworldly, apocalyptic keyboard-driven track that encapsulates the theme of Mechanical Animals<\/em> perfectly: heavy music with a decidedly commercial, synthetic sheen. Closer \u2018Coma White\u2019 finishes things on a melancholic note, with Manson reassuring that yearning, chemicals, and perfection are all vanity.<\/p>\n

Holy Wood (In The Shadow Of The Valley Of Death<\/em><\/a> (November 2000) found Marilyn Manson return to the semi-destructive mindset the band became known for. But Mechanical Animals<\/em> was arguably their most accessible effort, and yet another reason to pay attention to the ever-evolving world of the artist formerly known as Brian Warner.<\/p>\n

Chad Olson<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MARILYN MANSONMechanical Animals Interscope (1998)Rating: 8\/10 Following the macabre Antichrist Superstar (October 1996), Marilyn Manson stepped away from his relationship with Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor. Enlisting producer Michael Beinhorn (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundgarden, Hole), the band relocated to the Hollywood Hills. With its excess of plastic souls, drugs, and paparazzi, the new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[256],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marilyn-manson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4783"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12142,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4783\/revisions\/12142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}