By: Vuk Varicak
Is it merely a coincidence that with most musicians who have based their careers around shock factor, a decrease in the quality of their music gradually commences? Sure there are exceptions, but Marilyn Manson‘s career mirrors musicians like David Bowie, Alice Cooper, and Ozzy Osbourne in many ways. Lately, the similarities have gone so far as to result in a dwindling career,
The Ohio native – whose loss of key band members took a lot of quality out of his music – recently reunited with former bassist Twiggy Ramirez – a chief songwriter of the band whose return sparked hope of a comeback for the aging shock-rocker. After the abomination that was Eat Me, Drink Me, it would have been quite a task to make a worse album, so 2009’s The High End of Low proved to be a much more appealing album in that sense. In fact, it contains a whopping two worthwhile songs, in comparison to zero on his last release.
The simple folk melody of “Four Rusted Horses” is catchy and attention-grabbing, with its logical progression into a signature Manson chorus – “you can’t take this from me; forbidden in heaven and useless in hell” – and the incorporation of a genre not typical to his music. Even more interesting is “I Want to Kill You like They Do in the Movies”, a nine minute track placed in the middle of the album. With this song it seemed like Manson was actually doing what he wanted, and not thinking about whether it would sell or not – a concept that has seemed alien to him for the last while. Greatly reminiscent of his classic album, Antichrist Superstar, the nine minute epic features a passionate-sounding Manson over the eerie drone of distorted guitars, and the pounding bass line of Twiggy Ramirez over a simple drum pattern throughout the song. The rest of the album, unfortunately, sounds highly uninspired and is quite generic for the most part, with the typical power ballad, “Running to the Edge of the World”, and the annoyingly repetitive “We’re From America”, serving as prime examples.
Perhaps Manson has yet to make a comeback, and is keeping us all braced for the next trick he has up his sleeve, but chances are we’ve seen all he has to offer, and that this album is as its title suggests – the high end of low.
(5.1/10)
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