The High End of Low

Marilyn Manson | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 26, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2009
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Nothing
• ASIN: B0026IZR84
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (132 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,846 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #45 in Music > Alternative Rock > Goth & Industrial > Industrial

Editorial Reviews

Marilyn Manson's anticipated reunion with longtime friend and foil Twiggy Ramirez inches closer with the release of "We're From America," the first listen from the forthcoming The High End of Low. The album's official first single "Arma... geddon" will arrive at radio Spring 2009. Manson's new lineup including Ramirez (for the first time in close to a decade), plus keyboardist Chris Vrenna, and dummer Ginger Fish, will close the main stage at the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival, this July through August. Manson will also kick off his world tour with a headline festival run this June in Europe

Produced by Manson ,Vrenna,and Twiggy, The High End of Low was recorded in his Hollywood Hills studio and also features the track, "I Want to Kill You Like They Do In The Movies." Manson says of the new album, "I think my life definitely ended and began. The record sounds very final, but it's almost optimistic - though that feels like a strange word to use. It's a phoenix from the fire and a redemption resurrection."

Since emerging from South Florida (in the early 1990s), Marilyn Manson has continued to upend the mainstream with each new release. The tumultuous relationship Manson has cultivated with the public worldwide has resulted in multi-million records sales, sold-out tours, protests, legal battles, hate, adoration, award-winning distilled spirits (Mansinthe) and most importantly, a long list of some of the most enduring and genre-defying music in the rock era ("Lunchbox," "Sweet Dreams," "The Beautiful People," "Tourniquet," "The Dope Show," "This Is The New Shit," "Mobscene," "Heart-Shaped Glasses,"etc.) The new era of Marilyn Manson and The High End of Low begins now.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

106 of 121 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Manson is [sic] become Omega..., May 29, 2009

By 

A. Starkovich (The Republic of Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The High End of Low (Deluxe Edition) (Audio CD)

I approached "The High End of Low" the way I would a corroded anti-tank landmine--hyper-cautious, and nauseous with anxiety: I expected to either be totally finished with Manson, or be reveling in his return to form.

What I got is what I should have ultimately anticipated: just enough to bring me back to the well next time. "The High End of Low" is a step back in the right direction (which I largely attribute to Mr. White's return), but on my third listen through this album, I was thunderstruck when I finally put my thumb on what had been bugging me. The thing that Brian has lost over time could probably be mapped convincingly against a chart chronicling his loss of band-mates. His ego has spilled out of control and damaged his art. This is the second (arguably third) album from Manson the man, as opposed to Manson the band.

Let me be clear--I intend no character attack. Whatever his future efforts produce, I will remain a steadfast fan of Marilyn's work on the strength of his 2nd, 3rd, and 4th albums. However, his art has become unbalanced toward the personal, which is a disappointing regression in my eyes.

There is variety, wit, and a sense of play in the sonic/musical qualities of this album. There is also a shocking lack of variation in lyrical subject matter. Listen to this record carefully, and skip to the next song any time you hear one of the following words: I, Me, My, Mine, You, Your, We, Us, Our. The first-person narrative repitition is mind-numbing.

"Antichrist Superstar" is an industrial-metal stew of atheism, young-adult angst, and porn-shop occultism strained through melodrama, three-act structure, and The Church of Satan. "Mechanical Animals" is a right-brain/left-brain identity crisis expressed in hyperreal glam, androgyny, and sterile poignancy in a blurry, blue-and-white, pharmaceutical landscape. "Holy Wood" draws paralells between the "Manson" character from the previous two albums with Jesus and JFK ,while weaving together themes of martyrdom, conspiracy, and nihilism. "Golden Age" is a bleak experiment in Dadaist word-play and electronica-cum-Nurembourg dance beats glammed up in zoot-suits and faux-silver tooth-caps.

"Eat Me, Drink Me", and "The High End of Low" feature progressive musicianship, ego, synthesizers, and a total lack of thematic variety (barring a tiny few songs which feel half-hearted and out-of-place). They also take drugs from muse, to metaphor, to excuse.

There's your mini-review of the last six Manson albums. Pick one.

I'm all for artistic growth, but forgive a burly curmudgeon who came of age on "Angel with the Scabbed Wings", "Man that you Fear", "Speed of Pain", "Coma White", "The Nobodies", and "In the Valley of the Shadow of Death", for not giving a damn about Brian's love life. He's become too literal. Not to take a man to task, but I've got to take a man to task. It, "wipes the floor," with everything you've done before? Not remotely. You're not more than the sum of former parts. You've, "got [your] fire back[?]", it's guttering right now man, but I've got faith--the kind based on on observation as opposed to hearsay--you've a bonfire or two left. Just get over yourself.

37 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not our Armageddon, but his, July 8, 2009

By 

Patrick Ashe - See all my reviews

This review is from: The High End of Low (Audio CD)

In the 90's, I oscillated from liking and disliking Manson. I loved the band's sound along with his thematically inventive lyrics and striking vocals, but gathered from his look and interviews that he was just shocking for the sake of shocking. The vivid yet desolate aural landscape and hyperrelavent theological, political, sociological, and ultimately personal sentiments of "Holywood" convinced me otherwise. It demonstrated that his shock was a means to an artistic/intellectual end. After hearing that album, I had a much deeper appreciation of his past albums.

Then the trajectory turned downward. "Golden Age of Grotesque" didn't seem to say as much as his previous albums, lyrically or musically (especially the last third of the album). But overall, it was a clever indictment of our culture. "Eat Me, Drink Me" had raw righteousness and more tone colors, but some songs were noticeably bland at times. Upon hearing that Twiggy was returning, I anxiously awaited a return to form on the new album.

In short, "The High End of Low" isn't a return to form. It seemingly expotentiated the bland qualities of his last effort while offering roughly nothing new. Repeated power chords, repeated mantras, repeated "shocking" lines nowhere near as emotionally engaging or thought-provoking as any of his old albums.

I listened to every song, but barely made it through the half-way point of most of them. The few things I liked were the feel of Devour and We're From America, the acoustic riff of Four Rusted Horses (but again, it repeated too much), and the structure of Running to the Edge of the World. All a little new, and little different, a little metal. But "little" is the key term, as these few things were dwarfed by the quarter-baked blandness of the vast majority of the album.

I honestly don't know what happened. Between rejoining Twiggy and having more than enough reasons to shred our society, one would think Manson would prepare his magnum opus. My guess is the drugs and romantic obsession are to blame. The "daily fantasizing about smashing her head in with a sledgehammer" comment in a recent interview wasn't provokingly disturbing, just disturbing. I'll chant "We hate love, we love hate" any day of the week, but that comment just leads me to worry that the unparalleled intellectual and artistic powerhouse Marilyn Manson is no longer reflecting our sick society, but succumbing to it. This album could very well be the end. But not a burn out, just a fade away.

I would suggest to Manson that he quit feigning rebirth and do it. Return the songs and lyrics to form or go in a radically new direction. Do another Antichrist...or do a gospel album. Don't become the media caricature. Destroy it.

16 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The Lowest End of Low, May 30, 2009

By 

Wesley Vasquez "Archenhaust" (Close to Home) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The High End of Low (Audio CD)

This album should not have been made. Given the past of Marilyn Manson, if you are not ready to play "in your face" rock and throw some well-thought out, and often well deserved, middle fingers then don't bother. This is not anything worthy of the Marilyn Manson name.

First, Manson has always worked better when he has a theme and actually had something to say. It was the over arching self-destruction through self empowerment that made Antichrist Superstar great. It was the escapist drug induced despair that made Mechanical Animals great. It was the critique of America's fascination with martyrdom and tragedy that made Holywood great. There is no theme to this album. There is no message to get across. Rather, what is there is a collection of songs that sound disjointed, unoriginal, and tripe. Songs that try for the shock value without any message behind the sound. Even if they do get you attention, there is no substance behind the music. Even the packaging of the album is unoriginal all the way from the typeset of the logo to the cover shot. This album exemplifies that Marilyn Manson is a poor imitation of what was once a great band.

Secondly, the album is definitely among the most melodic of his career, but even with Jeordie White doing some of the writing it is all predictable. The sound itself is hard to define, which is not unusual for a Manson album. There are elements of country as in "Four Rusted Horses" and there are elements of what could almost pass for bluesy groove driven rock as in "I Want to Kill You Like They Do In the Movies". This album for the most part is not like anything else Manson has put out. In reality, it sounds a little like something Rob Zombie would have done for House of 1,000 Corpses. Regardless, the album doesn't draw you in or keep your interest. There is nothing here worth hearing. Whatever sound Manson is trying to convey is honestly bland. This is Manson basically releasing a country or folk album with a few industrial influences kicked in. This also would be a miserable failure by any artist, all the more so for an artist of the caliber of Marilyn Manson.

Third, lyrically Manson continues to fall. With lyrics like "I've got a black eye of a soul" the lyrical content of the album is laughable. Manson is devoting very little thought to being at the top of his game when it comes to writing thought provoking lyrics. He has become lazy and it shows. It is at the point now where he needs to realize that the die hard fans who stuck around for the lyrical atrocities of his Golden Age era and Eat Me, Drink Me are beginning to leave the theater. The man who wrote the anthems of rebellion of the late 90s is no longer performing.

The critics, as usual are wrong in their praise. This is an album to be avoided. A lot of reviewers are stating that you shouldn't compare Manson's new work to his older material because his former masterpieces were done so well that their replication would be more a miracle than an expectation. I say, the older material proves what he is capable of. He can do better. He should do better. He can start be taking the $10.00 I paid for the CD and start a fund to get Zim Zum, John 5, Trent Reznor and Daisy Berkowitz all in the same room to have a meeting to get Manson back on track. Perhaps there is still hope that the Antichrist will be reborn, but it didn't happen on this album and sadly doesn't look likely for the near future.