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By GREG MAKI
Something about Marilyn Manson singing a poppy love song is even creepier and more unsettling than his usual fare. “Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand),” the first single from Eat Me, Drink Me, his sixth full-length studio release, sounds like an innocuous little number, with airy guitars and synth lines recalling David Bowie’s “Ashes to Ashes.” But lyrics like, “She’ll never cover up what we did with a dress” and “Kiss me, it will heal, but it won’t forget,” hint at something darker. Then there is the song’s opening line, in which the object of Manson’s affection reminds him “of the one in school.” He’s referring, of course, to his new girlfriend, 19-year-old actress Evan Rachel Wood. He practically cackles with glee as he plays with how many view the relationship, going so far as to refer to her as a “little girl” in the chorus. The title of the song comes directly from the eyewear featured on the title character on the Lolita movie poster.
Manson’s subversive sense of humor has long been one of his greatest attributes, but “Heart-Shaped Glasses” is one of the few places it surfaces on Eat Me, Drink Me. Wood may have helped him find a better place now, but the bulk of the piece was inspired by the highly publicized end of Manson’s marriage to burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese. The material is by far the most personal and, in many ways, the darkest of Manson’ career, filled with themes of vampirism and other sordid topics that often equate love with death. “I love you so much you must kill me now,” Manson sings on the powerful, dirge-like opener, “If I Was Your Vampire.” He paints a bleak picture, yet the underlying passion driving the album is almost palpable and oddly romantic.
Written, produced and performed entirely by Manson and Tim Skold (longtime fans will lament the absence of keyboardist M.W. Gacy and drummer Ginger Fish), Eat Me, Drink Me feels, in a musical sense, almost like a sequel to Mechanical Animals (1998). On that album, the glam rock sheen seemed mostly like a way to toy with expectations after the industrial-goth-rock masterpiece Antichrist Superstar (1996). This time, it comes across as the natural sound for Manson to use to express his emotions. Eat Me, Drink Me is his least metal album to date but also his most guitar-driven. Skold lets loose with a number of solos and sounds good doing it. It makes me wish Manson had given John 5 the same opportunity.
The songs’ accessible nature masks much of the darkness, while the spare production (by Manson’s standards) keeps the focus on Manson’s voice and Skold’s guitar. Solid rock tracks like “Putting Holes in Happiness” and “They Said That Hell’s Not Hot,” and the ballad “Just a Car Crash Away,” which reminds me a little of “Fundamentally Loathsome” from Mechanical Animals, are among the best songs Manson has ever recorded. The tempo doesn’t pick up until the album’s latter half, with the “Rock Is Dead”- style bounce of “Mutilation Is the Most Sincere Form of Flattery,” a song aimed at the likes of My Chemical Romance and other imitators. The chorus: “The young get less bolder/The legends get older/But I stay the same as long as you have less to say/Do you think that I wouldn’t say this?/You know that I play this better than you/Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you and fuck you too/Do you think that I wouldn’t say this?/You know that I play this better than you.” This would be a great single if they can find a way around the F-bombs. “You and Me and the Devil Make 3” and the title track bring back the goth flavor before the album ends.
At 11 songs and 52 minutes, Eat Me, Drink Me finds Manson at his most focused, both lyrically and musically. Each song is distinct and flows nicely into the next. Most of the songs don’t actually blend together, but it feels like there would be a noticeable hole if any song was removed.
I’m having a hard time ranking this album among Manson’s previous efforts, let alone giving it a numerical rating for this review. It sounds unmistakably like Manson, but at the same time, it is unlike anything he has done before. That, to me, is the mark of a true artist, someone who grows and stays relevant as times change while still remaining true to himself and what he has stood for. |
