Marilyn Manson was the reigning king of shock rock all the way through 90s, but things seemed to take a turn in the last decade. There’s a whole new generation who never saw Marilyn don the creepy white body suit that turned him into a glam rock alien on Mechanical Animals , and few may remember Manson proclaiming himself the Antichrist Superstar .
But even if you haven’t heard much about it, Marilyn has continued to make music all these years. A recent appearance on Sons of Anarchy has pushed his name back into the public, and now Manson is once again getting a fair amount of press for his first new album since 2012’s Born Villain , one of the worst-reviewed ventures of his more than 20-year career.
Now Marilyn is pushing himself back into the spotlight with a new music video that’s got his dark signature all over it. “Deep Six,” the second single from the upcoming album The Pale Emperor , updates Manson’s gothic charm for the 21st century. It features a computer-rendered worm-like body wrapping around Marilyn and a nude woman featured in the video, somewhat recalling FKA Twigs’ “How’s That” video from a few years back.
[Warning: Manson’s video does contain silhouette, though not graphic, nudity. It’s still probably not safe for work though.]
The Pale Emperor is setting itself up to be Marilyn’s biggest release in years. Not only did Manson get huge amounts of press for his Sons of Anarchy appearance, but he’s also been able to ride on the coattails of one of the most heavily publicized stars of 2014: Lana Del Rey. A video, directed by modern horror icon Eli Roth, where Del Rey is graphically raped , also featured footage of Marilyn. The controversial artists working together alongside plus Roth blasted the floodlights on the project, giving Manson his second jolt of free publicity in 2013, something he hasn’t experienced since his music was linked to the Columbine shootings by the media in 1999. This time, however, it seems to have done Marilyn well. His first single from the album, “On the Third Day of a Seven Day Binge,” has gotten him positive reviews from mainstream and indie music publications alike.
Manson has set up the album as something quite different from his previous efforts, remarking that it harkens back to early days of rock n’ roll in an interview with a CBS radio station.
“This record was simpler for me because I finally figured out what rock ‘n’ roll was about: the blues. It goes back to Elvis and Robert Johnson, that’s what has the whole Faustian theme to it.”
Do you think Lana Del Rey and Sons of Anarchy could make The Pale Emperor Marilyn Manson’s return to form?