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[Album Review] Marilyn Manson ‘The Pale Emperor’

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Last week, shock rock group Marilyn Manson released their ninth studio album, The Pale Emperor. While the group has been relatively consistent in releasing new music, their seemed to be a different attitude towards this album, an ever so slightly desperate hope that this album would bring something new and exciting to the table. After all, the past few albums weren’t met with the same praise as albums such as Antichrist Superstar or Holy Wood, both of which are masterpieces of their time.

Early tracks released, such as “Cupid Carries A Gun” and “Deep Six”, sent hopes soaring as it felt like a return to the sound and style that set Manson apart as something unique. But did those tracks predict what The Pale Emperor would bring or did it tease with what could have been?

Opening with “Killing Strangers”, The Pale Emperor begins with a southern grit-infused industrial groove. Manson croons, seductively whispers, and cries out his lines while the drums elicit an almost militaristic rhythm, giving weight to the almost genocidal lyrics of “This world doesn’t need no opera/We’re here for the operation/We don’t need a bigger knife (a bigger knife)/Cause we got guns.” However, there is a tenderness to this song, a softness as Manson backtracks the slightly terrifying lines by stating, “We’re killing strangers/So we don’t kill the ones that we love.

“Killing Strangers” starts the album off strong and continues the trend with “Deep Six”, with its Akira Yamaoka-esque intro, and “Third Day Of A Seven Day Binge”, which takes strong influence from Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. But it also portents an unexpected recurring theme throughout the album: the percussion.

Throughout the album, the pounding drums have center stage. They overpower everything else sonically, pulsing and pushing the album forward with an album pulsating mission. Additionally, the influence of composer Tyler Bates cannot be denied, especially when hearing the near cinematic opening to “Warship My Wreck”.

Continuing the album, “Slave Only Dreams to Be King” has an introduction that could easily be confused as something off of a Rob Zombie album. And yet this is where the album then takes a nosedive, in terms of energy. The second half of the album, as a whole, doesn’t have near the same energy as the first half. I feel that with some maneuvering of the track list, this could have been avoided.

This album definitely feels like a return to what made Manson so great in the first place but it lacks authenticity. While Antichrist and Holy Wood felt like Manson poured his heart and soul into the music, this lacks that same intensity. Rather, The Pale Emperor feels almost like Manson is sitting in a rocking chair, flipping through old photo albums of his previous works and nostalgically reminiscing, trying to get that same feeling back.

I don’t want to say that Marilyn Manson is phoning it in, because I truly don’t believe that. I just don’t think the same fire of their musical youth burns within, which is upsetting. The group was once a voice of dissension, an outcast with an outspoken opinion, challenging the norms of popularity. Now it feels safe to listen to them.

The Final Word: The Pale Emperor is a very solid album and ranks high in the overall history of Marilyn Manson. However, the rather cold and impersonal feeling that pervades over the entire album is a detriment.

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‘Lost Themes IV: Noir’ – John Carpenter Announces New Album & Releases New Music Video!

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Lost Themes IV
(l-r) Cody Carpenter, John Carpenter, Daniel Davies - Photo Credit: Sophie Gransard

John Carpenter has been teasing big news for a couple weeks now and all has been revealed this morning. Carpenter is back with Lost Themes IV: Noir from Sacred Bones Records!

Lost Themes IV: Noir is the latest installment in a series that sees Carpenter releasing new music for John Carpenter movies that don’t actually exist. The first Lost Themes was released in 2015, followed by Lost Themes II in 2016 and Lost Themes III: Alive After Death in 2021.

John Carpenter called the first Lost Themes album “a soundtrack for the movies in your mind.”

From John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies, Lost Themes IV: Noir is set for release on May 3 via Sacred Bones Records. The album pays tribute to Noir cinema!

In conjunction with the announcement, they’ve shared a music video for the album’s first single, “My Name Is Death”, a miniature noir film directed by Ambar Navarro, starring Natalie Mering (Weyes Blood), Staz Lindes (The Paranoyds) and Misha Lindes (SadGirl). “Noir is a uniquely American genre born in post-war cinema,” states Carpenter. “ We grew up loving Noir and were influenced by it for this new album. The video celebrates this style and our new song, My Name is Death.”

Sacred Bones previews, “The scene-setting new single marks new territory for Carpenter and his cohorts, propelled by a driving post-punk bassline that is embellished by washes of atmospheric synth, pulsing drum machine, and, at the song’s climax, a smoldering guitar solo.”

“Sandy [King, John’s wife and producer] had given John a book for Christmas, of pictures from noir films, all stills from that era,” Davies says of the lightbulb moment for Lost Themes IV. “I was looking through it, and I thought, ‘I like that imagery, and what those titles make me think of. What if we loosely based it around that? What if the titles were of some of John’s favorite noir films?’ Some of the music is heavy guitar riffs, which is not in old noir films. But somehow, it’s connected in an emotional way.”

Sacred Bones notes, “Like the film genre they were influenced by, what makes the songs on Lost Themes IV ‘noirish’ is sometimes slippery and hard to define, and not merely reducible to a collection of tropes. The scores for the great American noir pictures were largely orchestral, while the Carpenters and Davies work off a sturdy synth-and-guitar backbone. The noir quality, then, is something you understand instinctively when you hear it.”

“It’s been a decade since John Carpenter recorded the material that became the initial Lost Themes, his debut album of non-film music and the opening salvo in one of Hollywood’s great second acts,” the label explains. “Those vibrant, synth-driven songs, made in collaboration with his son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies, kickstarted a musical renaissance for the pioneering composer and director. In the years since, Carpenter, Carpenter, and Davies have released close to a dozen musical projects, including a growing library of studio albums and the scores for David Gordon Green’s trilogy of Halloween reboots. It helped that they grew up in a musical environment. Daniel’s dad is The Kinks’ Dave Davies, and he would pop by the L.A. studio – the same one the Lost Themes records are made in today – to jam, or to perform at wrap parties for John’s films. That innate free-flowing chemistry helps Lost Themes IV: Noir run like a well-oiled machine—the 1951 Jaguar XK120 Roadster from Kiss Me Deadly, perhaps, or the 1958 Plymouth Fury from John’s own Christine. It’s a chemistry that’s helped power one of the most productive stretches of John’s creative life, and Noir proves that it’s nowhere near done yielding brilliant results.”

Here’s the full Lost Themes IV: Noir track list:

1. My Name is Death
2. Machine Fear
3. Last Rites
4. The Burning Door
5. He Walks By Night
6. Beyond The Gallows
7. Kiss The Blood Off My Fingers
8. Guillotine
9. The Demon’s Shadow
10. Shadows Have A Thousand Eyes

The following physical variants will be available:

  • Sacred Bones Exclusive Red on Clear Splatter vinyl w/ Screen Printed 7” bonus track “Black Cathedral”, a Silver Foil Stamped Jacket and poster.
  • Sacred Bones Society Exclusive on Black and White Splatter on Clear w/ Screen Printed 7” bonus track “Black Cathedral”, a Silver Foil Stamped Jacket and poster.
  • All retail Transparent Red, with a Gold Foil Stamped Jacket and poster.
  • Indie Exclusive Tan and Black Marble, w/ Screen Printed 7” bonus track “Black Cathedral”, a Gold Foil Stamped Jacket and poster.
  • Rough Trade Exclusive Oxblood Red and Black Splatter, w/ Screen Printed 7” bonus track “Black Cathedral”, a Gold Foil Stamped Jacket and poster.
  • Shout Exclusive Black and Clear cloudy, w/ Screen Printed 7” bonus track “Black Cathedral”, a Gold Foil Stamped Jacket and poster.
  • Black LP, with a Gold Foil Stamped Jacket and poster.
  • CD
  • Tape

You can pre-save Lost Themes IV: Noir right now!

Lost Themes IV Noir

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