Review: Marilyn Manson - Born Villain

Originally published on www.soundblab.com

Its been three years since Marilyn Manson released his last album and Born Villain, his eighth studio album, has been in the works for a good two years. Overall, the album sounds like the sort of product you would expect from Manson by now after nearly two decades in the music business, filled with great rock beats and brimming with vocal angst which would get anyone rocking away at a gig or in a club.

Kicking off with the song 'Hey Cruel World', he sets the theme for the remainder of the album, with a quiet intro that smashes straight into heavy guitar riffs and loud drums, coupled with the angst-ridden yet at times sexy and as-sultry-as-rock-can-get vocals. The first half of the album is filled with some great tracks, in particular 'Pistol Whipped', which is a slow starter but an absolute rock anthem as it goes on. It sounds different to many of the other songs featured on the album.

As we move into the middle, Born Villain does get a little bit repetitive. Songs such as 'Overneath the Path of Misery', 'Children of Cain' and 'Disengaged' become a little bit tedious and samey-same as they tend to drone on a bit, and are ultimately a little boring. However, the album picks back up towards the end, resuming the rock and roll angst, guitar riffs and heavy drums which kicked it off, and are what any die-hard Manson fan would expect.

Other stand-out tracks from the album include 'Lay Down Your Goddamn Arms' with its up-beat rock tempo; 'Breaking the Same Old Ground', which is as close to a ballad as you're going to get on Marilyn Manson album; and the title track. Whilst beinga strong album track, there are much better songs here he could have lead with. The cover of Carly Simon's 'You're So Vain' is a definite highlight and becomes this album's 'Tainted Love'. It is always great to hear a new take on an old song and, with guitar and drums from Johnny Depp, this one is really striking.

Overall, we may have heard all this before from Manson but that doesn't stop it from being a pretty good album you will definitely listen to more than once.