Antichrist Superstar performed its intended purpose -- it made
Marilyn Manson internationally famous, a living realization of his fictional "antichrist superstar." He had gained the attention of not only
rock fans, but the public at large; however, many critics bestowed their praise not on the former
Brian Warner, but on
Trent Reznor,
Manson's mentor and producer. Surely angered by the attention being focused elsewhere, he decided to break from
Reznor and
industrial metal with his third album,
Mechanical Animals. Taking his image and musical cues from
Bowie,
Warner reworked
Marilyn Manson into a sleek, androgynous space alien named
Omega, a la
Ziggy Stardust, and constructed a glammy variation of his trademark
goth metal. With pal
Billy Corgan as an unofficial consultant and
Soundgarden producer
Michael Beinhorn manning the boards,
Manson turns
Mechanical Animals into a big, clean
rock record -- the kind that stands in direct opposition to the dark, twisted
industrial nightmares he painted with his first two albums. It can make for a welcome change of pace, since his glammed-up
goth is more tuneful than his clattering
industrial cacophony, but it lacks the cartoonish menace that distinguished his prior music. And without that,
Marilyn Manson seems a little ordinary, believe it or not -- more like a '90s version of
Alice Cooper than ever before. True,
Mechanical Animals is the group's most accessible effort, but
Manson should have remembered one thing -- demons are never that scary in the light. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
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