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This album marks the return of former bassist Twiggy Ramirez to the band, but as ever the Manson personality/persona towers over everything else, and his two or three musical ideas are repeated throughout the disc, with only a few exceptions.
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Perhaps the only interesting thing about Manson's latest record is the couple of anomalies hidden within.
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Musically, the new tunes mostly evoke warmed-over Nine Inch Nails crossed with mediocre '70s metal, and occasionally, the results can be fairly satisfying.
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Assuming they haven’t all grown up by now, Manson fans will adore every dark, juvenile flourish. For the rest of us, The High End Of Low serves as a cautionary tale of artistic regression.
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'High End' makes a deeper impression as a result of Manson’s reunion with longtime guitarist-bassist Twiggy Ramirez; together with producers Sean Beavan and Chris Vrenna, they sculpted a sound both harder-hitting and more finely detailed than on any previous Marilyn Manson record.
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While this isn't a bad album--and Manson diehards are likely to enjoy it quite a bit--there's the sense that it may be an unwanted one.
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While most of the album is a fine return to form, there are a few sour spots that are worthy of an eye-roll or two.
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Q MagazineManson the man at least seems re-energised here....The same cannot always be said for his band; their limp glam metal consistently threatens to undermine the performance. [Jul 2009, p.127]
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Rolling StoneThe best moments come in the ballads like the blues-tinged 'Four Rusted Horses.' In such songs Manson is almost endearing, just a big melancholy dude with face paint. It's a less glamourous job title than Anticrist Superstar, but these days it suits him better.
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While it's still easy to dismiss his shock tactics as puerile and insensitive (if you're gonna sing about someone "pretty as a swastika," they'd better be really ugly), he hasn't sounded this vital--and tuneful--since "Mechanical Animals."
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The Marilyn Manson blueprint holds fast, and all the familiar elements are here. The difference is that even Manson sounds unconvinced by his "antichrist superstar" persona; maybe because his target demographic have grown up and moved on.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 78 out of 114
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Mixed: 26 out of 114
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Negative: 10 out of 114
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Sep 22, 2010
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MeiTAug 20, 2009
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KatrinaS.Jul 6, 2009This album incorporates all of Manson's complex and diverse talents. In my opinion, this is the best album Manson has released in years.