Yes, Marilyn Manson has sadly been absolute and complete trash when it comes to live performances in recent years - but he has always kept a certain standard on his albums.
The first half of this new album is awesome - although first song "Red Black And Blue" is kind of a skip for me. It's just more noise than substance. Next song, "We Are Chaos", is however excellent and probably the best song on the album. It enters the all-time Manson list of cool.
"We are sick, fucked up and complicated
We are chaos, we can't be cured"
Another kick ass track "Don't Chase The Dead" is up next. Very catchy and you get the feeling: this album is the shit!
"If tonight lasts forever
It won't matter if there's no tomorrow
No tomorrow"
"Paint You With My Love" is a top class Manson ballad, and this album highlight is on a par with his best ballads. "Half-way & One Step Forward" is solid and keeps the album rocking slowly forward.
Is this album really a masterpiece, I wondered? Hmm... no, it isn't. Next track "Infinite Darkness" is 'not great but not terrible'. It contains wisdom like "You're dead longer than you're alive". "Perfume" is standard auto-pilot Manson with stomping lyrics like "Get behind me, Satan". We've kind of heard it before. "Keep My Head Together", well, more of that...
Then it gets interesting again with "Solve Coagula". A great song on this album.
"I'm not special, I'm just broken
And I don't wanna be fixed
No one else I
No one else I
Wanna be like
So I stayed the same
Like nobody else"
The album ends with a standard Manson ballad "Broken Needle". Not exactly his best ballad ever - but still a nice end to a very consistent album with a perfect 45 minutes runtime. Not enough time to get bored.
This new album is easily miles better than his last album "Heaven Upside Down" [2017] and possibly better than "The Pale Emperor" [2015] too. So the facts are, Emperor Manson is still doing fine on record. Long may he reign!
Rating: 
Band: Marilyn Manson
Record Title: We Are Chaos
This Release: 2020
Record Format: LP
Record Label: Loma Vista
Content Type: Record Review
Language: 
Updated: 2020-09-19 02:52
Created: 2020-09-19 02:29
