Staff Reviews

Marilyn Manson - Heaven Upside Down

Review by Marc Burrows

It’s business as usual, but after a decade of disappointment, it’s good to know business is doing wel»

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From the moment it starts, it's clear that 1996's Antichrist Superstar, the best album Marilyn Manson has ever released, is the template for Heaven Upside Down. The album kicks off with the hulking Revelation #12 - stabbing like Irresponsible Hate Anthem twisted through Portrait's organ grinder - which forces listeners to choose a side at the end of the world. The explosive We Know Where You Fucking Live is the most overtly political statement on an album that could have actually benefited from more of the firebrand's outspoken wit, but it pulverizes nonetheless. The pulsing Kill4Me flaunts its Bowie flair, while Say10 takes its time with destruction, a slow burner that builds to a crushing chorus that would have fit perfectly on Holy Wood. Album centerpiece Saturnalia is an eight-minute epic that rides an elastic bass throb - courtesy of patient and forgiving sidekick Twiggy Ramirez - through a swamp of Manson-isms like "just smile like a rifle" and the appropriate-in-1999 warning of "I was invited to eat the young."
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