Marilyn Manson The Pale Emperor

Mature. Bluesy. Sober (sort of). Three things no one has used to describe a Marilyn Manson release. Ever. At least until now. The Pale Emperor arrives as a very pleasant surprise. With the aid of Tyler Bates, Manson has found a musical fountain of youth. The entire album sounds fresh and original while still having that demonic vibe his music is known for. It’s difficult to select stand out tracks because the entire release flows together perfectly. “The Mephistopheles of Los Angeles” has an almost a dance club like beat while Manson compares himself to the Faustian character. “Third Day of a Seven Day Binge” captures a lounge sound that makes me long for sitting around with some absinthe and a desire to experience the seventh day, because the third was so good. Fear not, he may have matured but he hasn’t gone soft. Emperor still has the ability to hit with some intense gothic angst on “Warship My Wreck” and “Deep Six.” The album ends with a dark decent of understanding that in the end, everything balances out with “Odds of Even.” One of the things that makes this easily his best release since Mechanical Animals is there are no fillers. All ten tracks feel necessary. The only complaint would be the deluxe version appears to have three additional tracks, but are actually acoustic versions of songs on the release. And that isn’t a bad thing, as they are enjoyable too, just misleading. In conclusion, if you have the slightest interest in anything Manson has done, you owe it to yourself to give The Pale Emperor a try. It appears the goth king has returned to his throne.

2015: Alternative Music Makes A Comeback

With new releases from Faith No More, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Living Colour, Modest Mouse, Rob Zombie, and Marilyn Manson all slated for this year, one might think they found a hot tub time machine back to the early nineties. Unfortunately no time machine, but a shit load of some really good music to look forward to this year. While I was sharing my excitement with my wife, I mentioned how lucky I thought music reviewers were. Right or wrong, they get to share their opinions with others. She asked why don’t I do the same thing with a music blog. And here we are. My ambitions are simple; blog about music both past and present hoping to turn others on to new sounds or maybe remind us about a really good album we have forgotten about. But most of all, share my love of some of my favorite sounds.