Are TGAOG, EMDM and THEOL underrated?

[brian219]

GAOG was a good album, very focused musically, and features the clearest concept of any Manson record so far. That said, it totally misses my tastes. It's heavier than I like my music and I loathe the overly (imo) clean production. So I understand why it usually ranks so high in the eyes of Manson fans, and I think it deserves to, it just sucks for me that I don't happen to like it.

EMDM made me laugh so hard when I first heard it. I thought for a second "Oh lord, Manson done sold out and went emo." By the third or fourth track I laughed even harder thinking "no, he's totally being sarcastic." Really, I still think that. People had labeled what he did beforehand in a lot of different ways, that weren't necessarily true. It felt to me like he took every misconception about himself and what he did, and actually made the kind of album that people had thought he'd already been making. To my mind, it was the most unexpected release since Mechanical Animals and I found it pleasantly surprising, especially since I'm one of the few that sees possible satire in it.

As for THEOL, I agree with Manson15Marilyn almost entirely. Definitely sad. It is called the High End of Low, after all. Good lyrics (big, big pills notwithstanding). And then there's the diversity, which I appreciate most of all. Some see that diversity as making the album feel less cohesive or as even a steaming mess, but it works for me. It sounds like a man at the bottom thinking about the roads not taken.

So EMDM and THEOL are underrated and GAOG is a tiny bit overrated, in my ever-so-humble opinion.

[The Overman]

Eat Me, Drink Me is, by far, the most singularly underrated Manson release in the entire catalogue. In addition to having what I consider to be the single best "atmospheric" track in the history of the band - the title track, "EAT ME, DRINK ME" - it manages to be a remarkably 'involved' album, from a musical perspective, for a record made by basically two guys in Manson's home studio.

Consider "The Red Carpet Grave". It has a beat that can almost be described as resembling The Police, a hypnotic, layered reggae rythym we've not ever heard from Marilyn Manson before. I've noticed that a lot of Manson fans seem to be particularly down on "The Red Carpet Grave" and the track after it on the album, "They Said That Hell's Not Hot", and I've never been quite certain why. I regard them as being, along with "Evidence" and the title track, as the strongest on Eat Me, Drink Me, and among the best tracks in the band's post-triptych career. They're certainly catchy, no doubt, and entirely unlike anything the band had released before. But that's why I enjoy them - I want Manson to release "un-Mansonesque" material, because his entire career was built around perpetual reinvention.

Which is part of my problem with The High End of Low. Unlike its predecessor, it does not have a unique musical approach to the material on the record; to the contrary, a lot of the 'sound' of the album is taken directly from past releases. And while I enjoy many of the tracks in isolation - "Leave A Scar", for instance, or "I Have To Look Up Just To See Hell" - I definitely regard the whole as being somehow less than the sum of its parts.

As for The Golden Age of Grotesque, I'm pretty fond of the album. It's true that the record does fade away in the end (though, contrary to popular opinion, I think that the mediocrity of "The Better of Two Evils" and "Vodevil" is broken up by the sing-song slab of excellence that is "The Bright Young Things" - seriously, listen to that track and try not to sing the chorus), but the first two-thirds of the album ranks among the strongest material the band has released. My only real complaint is that the Weimar thematics were stronger visually and intellectually during the GAOG era than they were lyrically; it seems that Manson sort of forgot what he was writing about by the seventh or eighth track.

[johncraze]

I really liked THEOL when it came out, but with time it just felt like its songs were b-sides from the Triptych, nothing really new about them. All of the tracks were Manson by the numbers, or some kind of attempts by Twiggy and Manson to recover the "Marilyn Manson" sound. By failing to do so, the songs suffer from sounding forced, and like retarded versions of much better songs (RTEOW I'm looking at you). So, I don't often return to hear this album.

EAT ME DRINK ME, was the first Manson album I got to anxiously wait for its release. So I have a soft spot for this one. Besides time has spoken, and shown me that it is a black diamond of an album, I always come back to it when my emotions find themselves understood by its lyrics.

What makes EMDM special is its humane content, so it will always be relevant in someway. Musicly, it's spot on, centered, and doesn't deviate at all conceptually ( with the exception of Mutilation, this song besides being a detour from the themes, it's an awful song).

The Golden Age of Grotesque, I like this album, it is filled with beats, defiance, sarcasm, and culture. Also this era was the best one aesthetically for Manson, I wish he would have gone further experimenting with high class suits. I just believe they match his intellect. I recall Manson, called this album a "juggernaut", and many fans got disappointed, I still have to understand why because GOAG is a never ending stomp.

[Bound&Tied]

I just don't like that Manson is allowing the thoughts of other people hating on those albums to get to him. He shouldn't doubt anything he is doing with his music. Some people only listen to Manson for the sound and only care for and expect an Antichrist Superstar vibe. I just enjoy every album equally, and I do think that THEOL and EMDM are underated. I actually don't hear people complain about TGAOG too often. That was my first album from Manson.

[Manson15Marilyn]

One of their best music videos, imo

[Atom]

I just don't like that Manson is allowing the thoughts of other people hating on those albums to get to him. He shouldn't doubt anything he is doing with his music. Some people only listen to Manson for the sound and only care for and expect an Antichrist Superstar vibe. I just enjoy every album equally, and I do think that THEOL and EMDM are underated. I actually don't hear people complain about TGAOG too often. That was my first album from Manson.

What are you talking about? I don't think he's allowing other people's opinions on how Marilyn Manson should sound dictate his work. If that were the case there would be no Mechanical Animals, GAOG, and especially no Eat Me, Drink Me.

One of my favorite things about Marilyn Manson was how drastically different the albums were. It was like hearing the band for the first time all over again with certain albums.

[Cognitive Cue]

One of my favorite things about Marilyn Manson was how drastically different the albums were. It was like hearing the band for the first time all over again with certain albums.

True that. But considering what he has said in his recent interviews, he does care about the opinion of others. And I am afraid he has heard/read quite a lot of negative things about his previous works. Maybe that was the reason why he decided that he needed a 'comeback' album. Another reason might be that he moved on and the broken heart has healed to a certain degree. Good for him if it's the case.

[Bound&Tied]

Oh! I was referring to this: "On the last two records, I was trying to force people into feeling my emotions. And I felt like shit, so that was a really stupid idea."

That sounds like he has doubt about those albums to me. But like I said, I equally love all his albums, and I think he's wrong in what he said about his last 2.

[Sans Agendum]

A lot of people seem to be saying that THEOL and EMDM are more about manson the 'person' but I think they have more to do with Manson and his relation to others. Born Villain is very much about Manson the 'person' though. I feel the same about GAOG, but I don't think it's as good of an album musically.

[CellarOwl]

THEOL is underrated because it has so much unrealized potential. Like Mechanical Animals, it feels like 2 different albums, but unlike that record, it never settles into its own voice. It has these incredibly damaged, broken moments contrasted with all this underwhelming Manson-by-numbers stuff like Arma-etc... and We're From America. Instead of embracing the more honest & human side like Devour or Wight Spider or even I Want To Kill You... and making a shorter but more complete record, he retreats into doing what people expect him to--so he sort of sounds like his own parody. It even affects the production on tracks like Pretty as a Swastika, which is a gem behind all the polish.