Marilyn Manson - 'Eat Me, Drink Me' (Interscope) Released 05/06/07

Get your devil horned hand-gestures at the ready - the self-proclaimed ‘God of F**k’ is back, with lipstick and pallid make-up intact. However, for his latest album he’s finally found his heart…

‘Eat Me, Drink Me’ is Marilyn Manson’s most personal album to date, and like Mr Manson himself, it is an ambiguous creature. Sporting a title and underlying theme derived from Manson’s love of Alice in Wonderland and fascination with the German cannibal Armin Meiwes, it looks like business as usual for rock’s favourite pantomime dame. However, it’s not as straight forward as that. Marilyn Manson has long been an artist that is easy to pigeonhole (as a goth-metal act), but the reality of who he is and which musical family tree he fits into is harder to pin down. It’s this ambiguity on which he thrives – is he a Hollywood icon or a serial killer? Is he a darker version of David Bowie or merely another tongue in cheek heavy metal act? On his latest album he asks the listener to decide whether Marilyn Manson is the cannibal or the meal, the killer or the victim – and this album makes the search for the answer a very interesting (and enjoyable) journey.

The most striking thing about ‘Eat Me, Drink Me’ is the strong song-writing that runs throughout. Epic opener ‘If I Was Your Vampire’ quietly welcomes you to the proceedings before exploding into a primal roar and is deftly followed up by the Smashing Pumpkins-esque ‘Putting Holes in Happiness’. From this point on things remain strong. Yes, he sounds as angry as every, and there’s much talk of slaughter houses and tombs and other heavy metal staples, but the record sounds consistently fresh – this is not a artist scrabbling for ideas, for shock tactics to make more headlines. This is an album that encompasses Marilyn Manson – both the man and the artist.

For all the anger and aggression that the album contains, there is an underlying feeling of sadness and frustration with the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. In ‘They Said That Hell’s Not Hot’ Manson seems to recognise the destructive impact that he can have on people, leaving ‘just another girl left in tears’ and it is strangely touching. Like Frankenstein’s monster, Manson appears to be wrestling with who he is and what he is perceived to be – again, an exploration of ambiguities.

Manson understands horror. For every ‘Nosferatu’ there is a ‘Young Frankenstein’ and he is aware of this duality, with a dark humour running through many of the tracks. The thumping, rolling throb of single ‘Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand)’ contains the line ‘Don’t break my heart, and I won’t break your heart-shaped glasses’, delivered as if spoken by a serial killer, but it could quite easily be followed by a comedy drum-roll. This track is one of the highlights of the album and is proof positive that Manson is capable of writing great tunes.

The most impressive thing about ‘Eat Me, Drink Me’ is how hard it rocks without sounding derivative. Manson and producer Tim Skold have managed to create a genre-blending record that is as much about rhythm and dark grooves as it is about Van Halen-esque riffing. It’s a celebration of rock, and remains sonically interesting throughout. Try as you might, it’s hard not get carried along by the sheer pantomime and drama of tracks such as ‘Mutilation Is The Most Sincere Form Of Flattery’ and ‘Are You The Rabbit’, and all of a sudden the devil-horned hand gesture doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.

Marilyn Manson’s image no-doubt alienates as many music fans as it attracts, but with ‘Eat Me, Drink Me’ he has proved that the dark, the macabre and the ambiguous can cross boundaries. Manson embraces his art and his personality, and has delivered a record with such belief in it’s convictions that hard not to be impressed.