The Pale Emperor
Marilyn Manson
(Hell, etc)
Three stars
While he remains a headline-grabbing figure in rock-music circles, the common consensus is that the thin white duke of darkness, Marilyn Manson, hasn't made a genuinely good LP for more than 15 years. The title of his ninth album's opening track, Killing Strangers, suggests that he still has controversy-courting intentions. Yet with an almost-bluesy croon added to Manson's misanthropic croak, it seems that he's keener on crafting fully formed songs than with pushing Middle America's buttons. Deep Six confirms this, wielding a confident glam-rock stomp. Odds of Even demonstrates a rare subtlety – it's almost a ballad. Manson returns to his a long-running fixation with the City of Angels on The Mephistopheles of Los Angeles, albeit with refrains that he's "ready to meet my maker". And though there's hardly a hint of the dangerous industrial-rock edge that made Manson infamous, there's just enough guile here to hint that the 46-year-old isn't about to shuffle off into the sunset just yet.
This album is available on Amazon.
aworkman@thenational.ae
