Review Summary: The same old Manson, only wearing his heart on his sleeve in a different sort of way. An ode to love instead of hatred. The only thing that makes the album worthwhile is Tim Skold's guitar playing.
Get a boob job, have surgery to change an eye’s color, constantly drink absinthe (an alcoholic drink illegal in the U.S.) — there are only so many things a man can do before people stop being surprised or shocked by his actions. Or even take notice, period. Marilyn Manson, the self-proclaimed “Antichrist Superstar,” will have to rely on his music-making skills this time around to turn heads. Manson’s highly anticipated sixth studio release, Eat Me, Drink Me, hit store shelves June 5.
“This album’s about wanting someone so bad, you want to devour them,” Manson, one of the acts slated to perform on the main stage at Ozzfest this summer, told Spin magazine.
Indeed, much of the fodder for the 11 tracks’ lyrics was obviously derived from Manson’s pain and struggle after his divorce from pinup model Dita von Teese, but more so his newfound need and adoration for his most recent love interest. On the second track, “Putting Holes in Happiness,” Manson professes his feelings for her (“If you’re Bonnie, I’ll be your Clyde, but the grass is greener here and I can see all of your snakes. You wear your ruins well, please run away with me to hell”). The first single, “Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand),” is already in heavy radio play and high on the music charts. It’s no secret that “Heart-Shaped Glasses” is a track written about Manson’s new girlfriend, blonde Hollywood starlet Evan Rachel Wood, 19, whom he describes as his “muse.” What may not be known about the 80s-sounding track, however, is that he wrote it after seeing her in heart-shaped glasses and was reminded of the movie poster from Stanley Kubrick’s film “Lolita.”
The latest release from the master of macabre melodies barely breaches mediocre. Many of the songs on the album are less than impressive, some altogether forgettable. Who knew finding love after being spurned could inspire a goth-god to create a mushy, albeit morbidly honest and painstaking mess, as heard in the title track’s lyrics (“I was invited to a beheading today, I thought I was a butterfly next to your flame”). Good grief, are you serious? Has the master of shock rock gone soft? Not necessarily. The lyrics on track 10, “You and Me and the Devil Makes 3” consist mainly of a poppy repetition of lines like “murdercute happyrape” and “bouquet of knives, killer” set against strained, screechy guitars and ominous heavy percussion. Also, the video for “Heart-Shaped Glasses” begins with a scene of Manson singing in a dark nightclub setting with Wood watching indifferently while wearing said glasses. Later, there is a scene that can best be described as blood-soaked, soft-core porn between Manson and Wood — a concept Manson described as his idea of “romantic.”
The album isn’t without some noteworthy tracks, though. Song No. 3, “The Red Carpet Grave,” has genius lyrics (“I can’t turn my back on you when you are walking away”) and an electronica-style booming bass overtone that’s just damn catchy. “They Said That Hell’s Not Hot” is one of the best songs on the album simply because the instrumentals rely so heavily on Tim Skold’s dynamic guitar-playing. On “Mutilation is the Most Sincere Form of Flattery,” Manson returns to the well-worn subject matter of songs on previous albums — his disdain for humankind. On it, Manson sings: “Do you think that I wouldn’t say this? You know I play this better than you. F--- you, f--- you, f--- you, and f--- you too.” It also contains a righteous plucky guitar overtone and solo from Skold, making for a good listen. In fact, Eat Me, Drink Me’s primary saving grace is Skold’s superb pure rock guitar solos on “Putting Holes in Happiness,” “They Said That Hell’s Not Hot” and “Mutilation is the Most Sincere Form of Flattery,” and his guitar accompaniments on virtually every track.
The second track “Putting Holes in Happiness” is a melancholy and heavy slower song that is bound to be the second single from the album. In fact, it was slated to be the first single, but plans changed and “Heart-Shaped Glasses” was released instead. Manson wrote “Putting Holes in Happiness” on his birthday and he described it to Rolling Stone as “a romantic-misogynistic-cannibal-gothic-vampire ballad.” Gee, something new and different for a change.
That being said, Manson gets points for instrumental creativity, as an “instrument” used on one of the tracks was a metal skunk cage he found outside of the recording studio. Also, kudos should be given to the man for tackling new song subjects and wearing his heart on his sleeve — this time regarding romantic matters.
“I was writing out of desperation and hope,” Manson said in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine. “The record came out in a rush — like an open wound — and I went with it.”
Eat Me, Drink Me can probably best be summed up in a line from “The Red Carpet Grave” — “us boys are all dressed up like a mediocre suicide omen.”
Amen.
