Antichrist Superstar (1996)
The sonic experimentation of Smells Like Children was probably a major turning point, because this is a much more well-crafted, layered album compared to what came before. There's something owed to The Downward Spiral in the production, which makes sense because 1) Trent Reznor did in fact co-produce this album, and 2) I guess if it's the mid-90's and you're making an industrial metal concept album, that's the main path to follow. Even structurally there are a few parallels - For instance both albums end in a Surprisingly Gentle Song that eventually collapses into Last Note Nightmare.
The important thing is that it works though - the album is both heavier and more intricately arranged than Portrait and is therefor better at creating the proper atmosphere. Rare quieter moments like "Cryporchid" are when the album is at it's most legitimately scary, but the more aggressive numbers just hit much harder than those on Portrait. And it's not a Downward Spiral carbon copy - the concept is entirely different, tracks like "Irresponsible Hate Anthem" and "1996" are more metal-influenced than anything on Downward Spiral other than "Big Man With A Gun", and Manson's singing style gives things a very different feel.
Actually, I don't think I've talked about Manson's singing much before - he doesn't have a lot of range, which can bring him into questionable territory with covers, but he's largely able to work with what he has: The previous two albums had him mostly working with harsh screams ("Irresponsible Hate Anthem"'s refrain of "FUCK IIIITTT!" is a nice example) and whispers, but here he's added more deliberately off-key croaking and sudden jumps to falsetto: "Kinderfeld" is one of the more unnerving tracks here, and a lot of it does have to do with his using such a bizarre vocal style.
As with most Manson albums, you may have to reach out to your inner angsty teenager to get involved with things lyrically, but the frequent delving into Word Salad Lyrics actually helps it from being too on-the-nose: for instance the passage "prick your finger it is done / the moon has now eclipsed the sun / the angel has spread it's wings / the time has come for bitter things" come off as some kind of incantation from a particularly creepy fairy tale (somehow even more so when sung through a vocoder that brings my stint reviewing Black Moth Super Rainbow to mind). While I had to remember the mindset I had when I was into this as a teenager, it has dated much better than I expected, and of course it's pretty much the reason this band were considered a big deal in the 90's.
Key Tracks: The Beautiful People, Tourniquet, Antichrist Superstar, Crytorchid
The Beautiful People (1997)
There are actually a couple of different versions of this single, but this is the one I'm covering because the other one was made entirely redundant by Remix And Repent the very same year. This single itself is fairly redundant as it is though - You've got the album versions of the title track, "Snake Eyes And Sissies"* , and "Deformography", with the only exclusive cut being a remix called "The Not So Beautiful People". "The Not So Beautiful People" isn't much of a reinvention of the song, but it does build nicely on the original's stomping rhythm, I can imagine it being worked into a DJ set at some kind of gothic and industrial dance night circa '96 or something, and for whatever reason I find it incredibly hilarious when a wildly inappropriate jazzy horn sting is thrown into the chorus exactly once. By the way, it turns out this remix was done by none other than JG Thirlwell.
Key Tracks: The Not So Beautiful People
Long Hard Road Out Of Hell (1997)
"Long Hard Road Out Of Hell" was Marilyn Manson's contribution to the Spawn movie soundtrack: Because the concept of the soundtrack was rock bands working with "electronica" artists, this is actually a collaboration with Sneaker Pimps. The end product sounds a lot like an Antichrist Superstar track, but there is at least a little bit of Sneaker Pimps flavor to it - Kelli Ali has some prominent backing vocals, there's a definite trip-hop backbeat to the verses, and the queasy synth strings that occasionally show up are very much like the kind of thing you'd hear on Becoming X. It doesn't really demonstrate the "electronica is the new rock n' roll!" concept the way the soundtrack's producers probably wanted it to, but it's one of the better cuts from the Spawn soundtrack and works well on it's own too.
The single also includes two other versions of "Long Hard Road Out Of Hell" (one remix, one instrumental version), and an instrumental version of "Kick The PA", Korn and The Dust Brothers' "Funky Drummer"-sampling collaboration for the same soundtrack. "Long Hard Road Out Of Hell (Critter Remix)" doesn't change the instrumentation too much, but nicely emphasizes the more trip-hop elements of the song by cutting back on the distorted guitar a bit and making the beat more prominent in the mix - the Immodest Orgasm samples are a bit much, but maybe they were meant to allude to "Trip Like I Do", a Filter / Crystal Method collaboration that was the soundtrack's other single and also featured suggestive moaning. The instrumental doesn't really bear repeated listens, but it's a nice way to catch some sonic details that might have slipped by in the regular version. And finally the "Kick The PA" instrumental is fine as background music, but is kind of a pointless inclusion, especially since the non-instrumental version isn't even there for the sake of comparison.
Key Tracks: Long Hard Road Out Of Hell
Remix And Repent (1997)
Two more remixes ("The Beautiful People" and "Tourniquet"), two live versions of Antichrist Superstar tracks ("Dried Up, Tied & Dead To The World" and the title track), plus one semi-Unplugged Version ("The Man That Your Fear").
I kind of wonder who is responsible for "The Horrible People", because in parts it actually sounds more Foetus-like than JG Thirlwell's actual remix of the same song: the intro sounds a lot like his Venture Brothers score, as it starts with an intentionally tinny sounding film noir jazz piano and muted trumpet, before a much louder series of horn stabs bring us into what is otherwise a more drum n' bass influenced mix. The "industrial jazz" element even briefly returns mid-song, as those horn stabs come back and get accompanied by some stand-up bass samples. Meanwhile "Tourniquet (Prosthetic Dance Mix)" successfully gives it a slow-burning industrial groove, and is highlighted by the "You never ever believed in me" bit getting mimicked by some synth strings. Actually, forget what I said about "The Not So Beautiful People" seeming fit for a goth dance night - when I was in high school I had an older friend who went to such things circa 1997, and she said the preferred method of "dancing" was swaying back and forth very slowly, which is exactly what I can imagine someone doing to this remix. "The Man That Your Fear (Acoustic Requiem)" doesn't quite have the finality of the original song, but it's interesting to hear it stripped down (acoustic guitar, vocals, and some distant industrial whooshes and televangelist samples), and it closes off this release well enough.
The live tracks both sound pretty much identical to the studio versions, aside from "Antichrist Superstar" adding some chipmunk-like vocal effects to the chorus (which works better than it may sound) and a quick ad-lib towards the end ("HALLELUIAH! HALLELUIAH MOTHERFUCKERS!"). Still, these tracks demonstrate that they could replicate this material live (albeit with pre-recorded spoken bits and sound effects), as well as the fact they were playing to pretty huge crowds at this point.
Key Tracks: The Horrible People, Tourniquet (Prosthetic Dance Mix)
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