Are TGAOG, EMDM and THEOL underrated?

[S.D.]

EMDM and THELOL however, are shitty whiny fagtastic albums complaining about his failed marriage.

I think this approach to The High End Of Low is really flawed whenever I see fans expressing it.

There's one song on there that Manson suggested was anything to do with his marriage to Dita Von Teese, and that is WOW, which in itself is deliberately sarcastic anyway.
Besides that, the album has fifteen songs, and yes, whilst some of them observe a more personal, emotion-projected side to Manson's writing, there's tracks like Four Rusted Horses, Arma-Goddamn-Motherfuckin'-Geddon, Blank And White, We're From America or I Have To Look Up Just To See Hell that don't reflect personal issues or relationships whatsoever. Three of them are openly sociological, and the others are more psychological, or just discussing life. Even Pretty As A Swastika, Leave A Scar, Into The Fire and 15 are vocally more salacious or defiant, they're not really about complaints or self-pity. Already there I've talked about nine songs, suggesting that the proportion of the album that genuinely dips into Manson's more emotive writing perspective is vastly outweighed by other themes.

Obviously you or anyone else don't have to actually enjoy the music itself, or even Manson's singing style, but lyrics and supporting aesthetics will define what a song is about, and The High End Of Low gets unfairly overlooked when people consider it to be purely about inter-personal relationships between Manson and one or two other people.

I think in general, the album basically reflects the fact that Manson put himself in a position of confusion with certain aspects of his lifestyle, and so instead of being someone who stands confidently on the fringe of culture sneering at it, he instead found himself feeling lost and unsure of how to stand taller. So you get this mixture of personal themes that seem directed at specific people in some songs, but it's more about Manson's fractured identity and feeling disillusioned with life and the world around him.
It still makes the album sprawl in places, and it has imperfections, but it's definitely not written from the same maudlin perspective that parts of EAT ME, DRINK ME was, and I think that's unfortunately a misinterpretation lots of fans made about it that tarnishes the view people create of it overall.

[Heather Quick]

About TGOAG, I'll just quote "Atom'', because he said what I think of it:
TGAOG is not underrated at all. It sold well and it seems people like it. I personally think it's not only Manson's worst album but a terrible album in general. It's the same boring guitar and beats throughout with little change. It's glossy, overproduced, and void of emotion. Every song is loud for the sake of being loud, so there's not really any dynamics. Just monotonous background music for me. It sounds the way people who have never heard Manson would think he sounds. Generic industrial metal sounding crap. I know I've already said most of this before but... yeah, it's relevant to topic..

Same. I'd say that, individually, there are some amazing songs (Doll-Dagga Buzz-Buzz Ziggety-Zag, Para-Noir, Spade, The Golden Age of Grotesque...) but, putting them all together it becomes boring, repetitve and dull. Even though I love The Bright Young Things, when Para-Noir ends, I start to think: "Ok, it's enough, how long will this album last?"

Conceptually it's FANTASTIC, but when it comes to the sound... ugh.

Eat Me, Drink Me:
Love it. Absolutely. It was the first Manson release that I followed up since the beginning of the whole thing (I'm a fan since 2004, after the release of Lest We Forget). Indeed, it is totally different from what Manson did, but it's beautiful and has a great vibe. If I Was Your Vampire is one of best songs Manson ever released. Evidence is also amazing.

The High End of Low:
It's fucking amazing and it's, by far, his most underrated album. I really don't understand all the bashing against this album. It's raw, sad, sick. Also, to me, it's the most diversified record Manson ever done. I love the 'rock n' roll' vibe of Leave a Scar (fucking love this one, my favorite since the first time I listened to), the 'country' feel of Four Rusted Horses... And I Want to Kill You Like They Do in the Movies is, by far, Manson's sickest song. When I first listened to this song, I stopped everything I was doing. Hypnotizing.

[Fifteen]

Well, you know, I don't like to use the word 'underrated'. If the main fanbase doesn't like it, the main fanbase doesn't like it. It's as simple as that.
However, I personally love Eat Me, Drink Me. Yes, indeed, you saw it right, I absolutely love Eat Me, Drink Me. It is my FAVORITE album. Even though it might not be as deep and political and whatever it was that makes the older albums better in the eyes of so many people, but for me it's endlessly wonderful and inspiring. For me it's just exactly right.
Now I don't think bad of GAOG or THEOL either, yet my like for them (just as with the other non-EMDM albums) grows and fades. However I do think that THEOL isn't as strong, as I don't feel the urge to listen to its songs that often any more. On the other hand again, I haven't even ripped MA on the computer I got a few months ago, and hasn't listened it on disc either, while I do deeply love it.
So, eh, yeah..

[DrClitoris]

I Like GAOG, I think it's a great album. It doesn't sound forced, or dilluted or anything. It's cohesive and well put together. The production is great and I think it has some great songs like (s)aint, the title track and vodevil. Overall, I like it more than THEOL. But I don't feel it's underrated since I think that a lot of other people like it :/

EMDM to me is maybe just a little less good than GAOG. I like the atmosphere of it and Skold's guitar work is great. The only track I can't stand is Heart Shaped Glasses and that, to me, is a huge minus for the entire album. Other than that, If I was Your Vampire, Evidence and Eat me drink me are great songs. I definitely think that this is an underrated MM album.

HEOL in my opinion is the worst MM album. I honestly can't find one great thing about it, maybe Devour. The lyrics are just shameful, there is no consistent feel to it, which I guess you can contribute to it being MM's sonic diary, but still, the production is horrible, the songs are just unimaginative and it feels so rushed. The whole feel of that era is so uninspired.

[arkahno]

they are totally underrated.

[arkahno]

I never had any problem with any Manson never, everytime I was hoping for something different, and I always had it.
TGAOG is almost a perfect album, its only issue is the keyboards are really low in the majority of the tracks.
EMDM is perfect from track 1 til 7, anyway, it is just an amazing album, BTW, why everybody keeps saying that its a romantic album about his marriage? yeah sure it cointains songs about the girls in his life, but ACSS, MA and HW have songs about his girls as well, the red carpet grave, mutilation, the tittle track, are not about love.
THEOL, is an awesome album, I listen it more often than ACSS or MA, is more accesible, songs like, leave a scar, I have to look up, whight spider or into the fire, are so good songs, gigantic songs.

I think the people listen more to magazines reviews than the music in the albums.

[pabloccb]

I never had any problem with any Manson never, everytime I was hoping for something different, and I always had it.
TGAOG is almost a perfect album, its only issue is the keyboards are really low in the majority of the tracks.
EMDM is perfect from track 1 til 7, anyway, it is just an amazing album, BTW, why everybody keeps saying that its a romantic album about his marriage? yeah sure it cointains songs about the girls in his life, but ACSS, MA and HW have songs about his girls as well, the red carpet grave, mutilation, the tittle track, are not about love.
THEOL, is an awesome album, I listen it more often than ACSS or MA, is more accesible, songs like, leave a scar, I have to look up, whight spider or into the fire, are so good songs, gigantic songs.

I think the people listen more to magazines reviews than the music in the albums.

That's exactly how i feel about it.

[Cognitive Cue]

IMHO, both EMDM and THEOL are amazing records. Both just fit perfectly the period of my life when I was at the crossroads and felt kind of stranded at the terminal. I liked it that Manson chose to go so emotional and show the 'human' side of him. Artistically and poetically both these albums are very solid and expressive.

From my own experience of writing poetry, I can say that I am most creative when I do not need to focus on expectations of someone (in MM case, be it first-time listeners or fans or a record label or other band members). Artist can achieve great results when he can be sincere, when he doesn't have to put himself to some pretentious pose. Alas, there's some of that (pretentiousness) on GAOG and BV (just a bit).

EMDM and THEOL are, indeed, albums where Manson the man is the focal point and the only true artistic force behind the records if we talk about the album theme and lyrics, not necessarily the music. And he really delivered. There's so much pain, emotion, soul searching. I can't say all songs are particularly great, but there are many that shine, although they shine with a very dark existential nauseating light.

[JT_]

EMDM to me is maybe just a little less good than GAOG. I like the atmosphere of it and Skold's guitar work is great. The only track I can't stand is Heart Shaped Glasses and that, to me, is a huge minus for the entire album.

It's the 3rd most watched Manson video on youtube at 13,262,023 views even above songs like The Dope Show...I think that's a plus for Manson and it has a broad appeal, whether the hardcore fans think it's cool to slam it or not.

[Manson15Marilyn]

The High End of Low, in my opinion, is pretty underrated.

Though it was a rather sad album, it was their most diverse album, it was different, the lyrics were good, and a lot of it was pretty catchy. At least to me.

The Golden Age of Grotesque, I find, is overrated. But still really good. I'm starting to wonder how much of it was actually directed toward / at the fan base nowadays...