In the midst of 2020, many artists are still creating even as the pandemic fights to crush people’s motivation. One of these is the controversial musician Marilyn Manson who released his eleventh studio album appropriately named We Are Chaos in mid-September of this year. As a longtime fan of his, I will be reviewing each track with my opinions on sound and lyrics alike.
First is “Red, Black, and Blue” which starts off in the spoken words of what sounds like a sermon being given to a crowd based on the cheering sounds. As a second part to his 2017 album Heaven Upside Down, this song does a great job in transitioning into the new album with its carryover of religious imagery and overtones while also borrowing from older albums macabre messages such as can be found from “The Golden Age of Grotesque” (2003). The most powerful set of lyrics seem to be the existential “Am I garbage or God?
-Am I garbage or God?
-Church or a trashcan?
“Either way, you’re a waste of my time”, which shows that the song’s narrator has little patience in either position and would rather not be bothered by the worries of his underlings.
We Are Chaos starts off with an accelerando of guitar strings to gives off a sense of adrenaline rushing through the song that continues to propel the listener forward into the album. The lyrics here suggest that people only want to throw us away if we do not fit their ideal image, whatever that maybe, hoping that “we’ll just go away” instead. Due to this ill-treatment, “we all end up in a garbage dump”, discarded, only to have comfort from others who have been similarly treated, which brings to mind the quote that talks about how we’re all in a dumpster, but only some can reach the stars. It seems to me that the speaker of this song is one of the few at the top of the pile since he was freshly thrown away and until he is covered up by the next layer of people to occupy the landfill he contemplates, existentially, what purpose he was supposedly supposed to serve. Contextually, this song in particular brings out that vibe where you could sway a lighter while listening to it as the message hits your ears with a more modern sound. Personally, I find that it could be compared to an earlier song of his called “Great Big White World” (Mechanical Animals, 1998) based on the slower style of singing.
Next, “Don’t Chase the Dead” has a more straightforward plot and message: “If tonight lasts forever it won’t matter that there’s no tomorrow”, which fits with the few other lyrics we get that are not repetitive about angels being exiled and getting to witness Hell as if it’s a concert. Live in the moment and don’t overthink what could have been, or it’ll end up haunting you in a tireless cycle of the hunter and hunted. To me, it’s not one of my favorites even though it’s got a nice vibe and is similar to Devil Beneath My Feet from his 2015 album The Pale Emperor, but is still a nice pallet cleanser in between the heavier hitting songs.
“Paint Me With Your Love” is also a bit blunter and has the appearance of a love song. The repeated, “It’s not a life sentence.” But a death dream for you” speaks to those who suffer from being convinced they have nothing to offer and would be better off dead because there’s a common comparison of a horrible life being like a nightmare you cannot wake from. The song does have a positive note in a line of lyrics that say to kill is to be amateur and death is a profession, which could convince people who feel this way to reconsider, if hot at least question what is making life so difficult. Again, not one of my favorites even though it borrows familiar tones from two other songs I appreciate, “Coma Black” (Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death), 2000) and “Running to the Edge of the World” (High End of Low, 2009), respectively, yet this new song doesn’t have as much substance.
“Half-way & One Step Forward” seems to be a metaphor for trying to enjoy the things that are supposed to bring happiness, as is expressed with the likeness to a carnival, and not being able to due to a mental illness that distorts reality. Cleverly enough, the title even suggests this message because people try to step out from under an illness due to denial and wanting to present as ‘normal’ in public or around loved ones too soon and end up taking a step back into an even worse state of mind then if they had given themselves enough time to recover and the first place. Personally, this is my favorite song off the album and has a fresh style that is unlike any of his previous songs I have listened to.
With most of Marilyn Manson’s albums, We Are Chaos has a total of 10 songs and the rest will be reviewed in Part Two of this article.
Written by Mordecai Russell
A loveable guy who loves playing Dungeons and Dragons, writing fanfiction, and watching many of his beloved YouTubers. Part of the LGBTQIA+ community and proudly living his truth!