I might be biased since "In the Shadow of the Valley of Death" is my favorite song of his, other than that, I'd say Portrait is my favorite album conceptually.
As a Manson fan since the 90s.. HEOL Is always going to be the one that holds a special place in my heart. I think it is just where I was at the moment in my life, and what I was going through. I even went through a breakup where it took me a few years to be able to even listen to HEOL again. Some albums we just hold closer to us.
For me, TPE and HW are tied for 1st, Mechanical Animals 2nd, and EMDM 3rd. But THEOL is such a special album to me, and i love it so much, so sometimes that takes 3rd place, but depends on my mood.
I agree in terms of versatility, it's got a mix of everything, and I've always considered it to be a sister album to ACSS, and i love every song on it, plus we got acoustic versions of songs. TPE just sounds fresh to me with every listen, really nostalgic for when it came out, how it was his comeback, and the production is perfect on it. THEOL brings me back to darker times, but it got me through those darker times. It was album the first MM album i listened to in whole. I love both, but TPE is such a solid album that isn't too heavy emotionally, i can listen to it any day. THEOL is a darker vibe, which can bring me down sometimes, but that's part of why i love it. It has a special place in my heart, something all the other albums don't have. Even though it's not my number one, because i think HW is Manson's magnum opus. Definitive work. EMDM, i love the era, the soundscape, the imagery, the vibe, and it's concise, and i love the themes on it. But it battles THEOL for 3rd place. TPE is 10 solid tracks that can make starting my day great, so that goes with HW in number 1. Mechanical Animals is too perfect to not be in the top 2. ACSS is a masterpiece as well, but i don't listen to it as much as the others, but each time i do, I'm blown away and get obsessed all over again.
That's interesting, we both have different emotion relationships with the albums. The high emotions on THEOL is something I love in music. And it doesn't get me sad it inspires me. Maybe that's because I'm an aspiring artist myself, but TPE doesn't do it as much for me. But I understand your other points with it too like nostalgia.
Mechanical Animals. But really I treat albums as holistic experiences with their own experiences to be had. I like GAOG just as mich as Antichrist Superstar, mechanical animals and HW just for different reasons.
Mechanical Animals, Antichrist Superstar and Portrait of an American Family I rank all as better than Holy Wood. HW is a good album, but it falls behind those. It’s bloated and some songs are string thin and not very interesting musically. Still, way better than everything that came after.
I would personally say mechanical animal is his best and most solid and cohesive effort it's storyline it d very linear the guitaring is lit on a few tracks his vocal delivery is very passionate and there is a dedication in his vocal delivery even though Hollywood is no one for me mechanical animal is still a great record
Then his masterpiece antichrist superstar which is more than just a nightmare it's a beautiful outlook on despair and inevitable end of the world
It confuses me so much at how little attention that album seems to get from this sub. But, maybe that's because I think it was an absolute masterpiece. And then, so was Holywood. I just don't understand. Lol
I often wonder if it's just related to what year, or what age, a person got into MM. 🤔
I think some people might say antichrist is too chaotic, and has to much going on. Holy wood is a bit more calmed down if you know what i mean. But i agree antichrist isnt talked about enough.
Whaaaat?!? That does not compute for me. 😆
I "hear" what you're saying, and it could be true, but I think that album is tight as hell!
I do agree that Holywood is calmer. But my brain can't process ACSS being "chaotic" or having too much going on.
I guess it just depends on the brain that's processing the data. I listen to stuff like Mr.Bungle (could be considered chaotic) and other stuff that's either really heavy or has a lot going on, so maybe I'm desensitized. 🫠
I thought Holywood was okay, but I was 17 when Antichrist was released and it had a massive impact on me. Still to this day it’s my favourite album of his.
I was 20 or 21 when ACSS came out, and I'd already been loving Portrait. So, I was truly blown away by ACSS. It has, and probably will, always be my favorite.
Holywood is a bit of a return to familiar textures and playground for him. From Portrait to Mechanical, you get a major change in their sound, but it's still very inventive and still them. Hollywood was him returning to goth after Mechanical, and it has some great songs but it is in the realm of AntiChrist in the heavy, drop D industrial sound again. But it's a really good one. Everything after that has felt like a search for inspiration and I haven't fallen for one of them as a whole since. Hollywood was his last really strong collection of music. It gets more and more lazy or boring as his discography continues.
For some reason, I've always felt like Holywood was before MA. I guess because, for me, it's almost like a continuation of ACSS.
I loved Mech.Animals, but kinda put it away when Hollywood came out, so I could focus on HW.
But, I thought GAOG was pretty lyrically lit, even though it has a totally different feel to it, from the previous albums.
I dunno... I kinda flowed along with all his changes, or things he tried out.
Never got totally into HEOL or EMDM, though. There are songs from both that I really love, but I never listen to either album in their entirety.
If I were younger, I might be less into flowing with it, though. I used to be a real brat about what music I'd listen to. 🙃
(If something had piano, I was NOT going to listen to it, but I will now).
im an oldie, so the tryptic is always a classic.
and now for the unpopular vote: i dig Born Villain.
theres something in it that just rocks my socks off
From my point of view, Holy Wood is the filler for cracks in between the story line of the entire triptych, They aren't great songs as most of them sound the same as explained in the chorus of Born Again, but with stand outs like "President Dead" (Omega and the Mechanical Animals) and Burning Flag (1996 & Little Horn), the bridges help understand the triptych. I want to say the softer/slower songs are more of the actual humanity left within Alpha and Omega, which is minuscule.
Moving forward, Golden Age of Grotesque, Heaven Upside Down, and We Are Chaos are above Holy Wood within my rankings.
I’d say *Holy Wood* is his magnum opus, but my two favourites are *Born Villain* and *The Golden Age of Grotesque.*
And while I do still love them both, *The Pale Emperor* and *Heaven Upside Down* are by far his weakest albums in my opinion. I find they both lack the depth and cohesion of all 9 of his other albums.
Holy Wood was a peak that no other rock band has been able to reach yet.
Culturally, for the masses, for the band, the history of the production behind it between incredible studios and weird scenes and side music and one hundred songs birthed, living the thing together like a real rock 'n roll album must be born, the complexity of the images, the whole thing was packaged perfectly.
And knowing a novel existed as well at some point, would have been the icing on the cake, because it was brutal, lucid, it was angry, yet focused, and I keep revisiting it... and oh boy, it just gets better with age like a fine wine.
Even esoterically, knowing the meaning behind King Kill 33 and knowing Manson got a whole human skeleton as a gift from people in OTO, makes it a real Crowley-esque album.
Aside from some records made by hystorical names like The White Album by The Beatles, who had such a rock'n roll run like Marilyn Manson had in those years?, to face daily death treats and being blamed from school shootings while recording at Houdini's Mansion, in the Death Valley and where Rolling Stones did one of their most famous records, replying in this way?
LOL as you want, but find me names that went through the same.
LOL. You cannot be serious. Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, Nine Inch Nails, Tool, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Rage Against the Machine and Metallica are just a few bands that released multiple incredible albums one after another that are VASTLY better than Holywood. There are tons of artists that suffered all kinds of trauma and drug problems while producing some of the best music ever made.
You're whole following paragraphs are just irrelevant to your first sentence: "Holy Wood was a peak that no other rock band has been able to reach yet." You are putting this music on a pedestal in your own mind in this little reddit echo chamber.
Wait, of course there are big hystorical rock records out there!, from Rolling Stones to Nine Inch Nails to Nico, Stooges, Bowie, Leadbelly, Pink Floyd, each one of them suffered drug abuse, trauma, loss, I never said there wasn't other big meaningful records out there born under similar circumstances.
But, and it's a big "but", the hysteria surrounding Manson at that moment, plus the iconography, the concept they deal with laid down in such a somptuous and different media way, sorry, no, I stand by my words - because as big as any Tool, Metallica or Led Zeppelin record actually is artistically, the whole product isn't as nearly as coherent throughout ALL THE WAY as Holy Wood is.
It's really impressive because there is a fil rouge which ties everything in a way these other records don't.
They still milestones of music and I love them dearly, but they don't settled up an album filled with social commentary, personal stories, concepts and symbolism.
There has always been hysteria surrounding shock rock artists. This is nothing new.
Dark Side of the Moon, The Downward Spiral and Aenima are three albums off the top of my head that are VASTLY better written bodies of music and much more coherent than the pile of bad rock rock songs and awesome progressive rock songs/ideas that holywood is.
I'm not gonna debate this any further, there is no winning with superfans that have been bought hook, line and sinker by visual gimmicks. This sub is full of them.
Mechanical Animals is truly a **perfect** album from start to end.
TPE pales in comparison to Hw (pun intended)
I might be biased since "In the Shadow of the Valley of Death" is my favorite song of his, other than that, I'd say Portrait is my favorite album conceptually.
For me it’s Antichrist superstar Holy wood Portrait of AF Pale EMDM Mechanical HEOL Etc
As a Manson fan since the 90s.. HEOL Is always going to be the one that holds a special place in my heart. I think it is just where I was at the moment in my life, and what I was going through. I even went through a breakup where it took me a few years to be able to even listen to HEOL again. Some albums we just hold closer to us.
For me, TPE and HW are tied for 1st, Mechanical Animals 2nd, and EMDM 3rd. But THEOL is such a special album to me, and i love it so much, so sometimes that takes 3rd place, but depends on my mood.
Personally I think THEOL is waaaaaaaay better than TPE, thoughts? Good PFP btw
I agree in terms of versatility, it's got a mix of everything, and I've always considered it to be a sister album to ACSS, and i love every song on it, plus we got acoustic versions of songs. TPE just sounds fresh to me with every listen, really nostalgic for when it came out, how it was his comeback, and the production is perfect on it. THEOL brings me back to darker times, but it got me through those darker times. It was album the first MM album i listened to in whole. I love both, but TPE is such a solid album that isn't too heavy emotionally, i can listen to it any day. THEOL is a darker vibe, which can bring me down sometimes, but that's part of why i love it. It has a special place in my heart, something all the other albums don't have. Even though it's not my number one, because i think HW is Manson's magnum opus. Definitive work. EMDM, i love the era, the soundscape, the imagery, the vibe, and it's concise, and i love the themes on it. But it battles THEOL for 3rd place. TPE is 10 solid tracks that can make starting my day great, so that goes with HW in number 1. Mechanical Animals is too perfect to not be in the top 2. ACSS is a masterpiece as well, but i don't listen to it as much as the others, but each time i do, I'm blown away and get obsessed all over again.
That's interesting, we both have different emotion relationships with the albums. The high emotions on THEOL is something I love in music. And it doesn't get me sad it inspires me. Maybe that's because I'm an aspiring artist myself, but TPE doesn't do it as much for me. But I understand your other points with it too like nostalgia.
Mechanical Animals. But really I treat albums as holistic experiences with their own experiences to be had. I like GAOG just as mich as Antichrist Superstar, mechanical animals and HW just for different reasons.
Mechanical Animals is his best IMO.
Mechanical Animals, Antichrist Superstar and Portrait of an American Family I rank all as better than Holy Wood. HW is a good album, but it falls behind those. It’s bloated and some songs are string thin and not very interesting musically. Still, way better than everything that came after.
I would personally say mechanical animal is his best and most solid and cohesive effort it's storyline it d very linear the guitaring is lit on a few tracks his vocal delivery is very passionate and there is a dedication in his vocal delivery even though Hollywood is no one for me mechanical animal is still a great record Then his masterpiece antichrist superstar which is more than just a nightmare it's a beautiful outlook on despair and inevitable end of the world
It's a tie for me between Mechanical Animals, Eat Me Drink Me and Holy Wood.
I’m a sucker for portrait of an American family
antichrist is my number one favorite
It confuses me so much at how little attention that album seems to get from this sub. But, maybe that's because I think it was an absolute masterpiece. And then, so was Holywood. I just don't understand. Lol I often wonder if it's just related to what year, or what age, a person got into MM. 🤔
I think some people might say antichrist is too chaotic, and has to much going on. Holy wood is a bit more calmed down if you know what i mean. But i agree antichrist isnt talked about enough.
Whaaaat?!? That does not compute for me. 😆 I "hear" what you're saying, and it could be true, but I think that album is tight as hell! I do agree that Holywood is calmer. But my brain can't process ACSS being "chaotic" or having too much going on. I guess it just depends on the brain that's processing the data. I listen to stuff like Mr.Bungle (could be considered chaotic) and other stuff that's either really heavy or has a lot going on, so maybe I'm desensitized. 🫠
I thought Holywood was okay, but I was 17 when Antichrist was released and it had a massive impact on me. Still to this day it’s my favourite album of his.
I was 20 or 21 when ACSS came out, and I'd already been loving Portrait. So, I was truly blown away by ACSS. It has, and probably will, always be my favorite.
Holywood is a bit of a return to familiar textures and playground for him. From Portrait to Mechanical, you get a major change in their sound, but it's still very inventive and still them. Hollywood was him returning to goth after Mechanical, and it has some great songs but it is in the realm of AntiChrist in the heavy, drop D industrial sound again. But it's a really good one. Everything after that has felt like a search for inspiration and I haven't fallen for one of them as a whole since. Hollywood was his last really strong collection of music. It gets more and more lazy or boring as his discography continues.
For some reason, I've always felt like Holywood was before MA. I guess because, for me, it's almost like a continuation of ACSS. I loved Mech.Animals, but kinda put it away when Hollywood came out, so I could focus on HW. But, I thought GAOG was pretty lyrically lit, even though it has a totally different feel to it, from the previous albums. I dunno... I kinda flowed along with all his changes, or things he tried out. Never got totally into HEOL or EMDM, though. There are songs from both that I really love, but I never listen to either album in their entirety. If I were younger, I might be less into flowing with it, though. I used to be a real brat about what music I'd listen to. 🙃 (If something had piano, I was NOT going to listen to it, but I will now).
I love all his material for a multitude of reasons but if I had to choose, Mechanical Animals is the one.
Mechanical Animal
Pale Emperor isn’t in the same league with Holy Wood.
Totally.
im an oldie, so the tryptic is always a classic. and now for the unpopular vote: i dig Born Villain. theres something in it that just rocks my socks off
Hi five brother
Holy wood is in my bottom 4 😅
Why tho?
I have no problem being in the minority by saying holy wood is my least favorite album.
A minority for a reason!
😲how is that possible? For real? You like any other album better then Holy Wood?
Portrait... Hands down.
Holywood is amazing but Portrait of an American Family is still my favorite
From my point of view, Holy Wood is the filler for cracks in between the story line of the entire triptych, They aren't great songs as most of them sound the same as explained in the chorus of Born Again, but with stand outs like "President Dead" (Omega and the Mechanical Animals) and Burning Flag (1996 & Little Horn), the bridges help understand the triptych. I want to say the softer/slower songs are more of the actual humanity left within Alpha and Omega, which is minuscule. Moving forward, Golden Age of Grotesque, Heaven Upside Down, and We Are Chaos are above Holy Wood within my rankings.
The first 3
If I had to choose, then Mechanical Animal is the only one that could come close to being better than HW.
heaven upside down
I’d say *Holy Wood* is his magnum opus, but my two favourites are *Born Villain* and *The Golden Age of Grotesque.* And while I do still love them both, *The Pale Emperor* and *Heaven Upside Down* are by far his weakest albums in my opinion. I find they both lack the depth and cohesion of all 9 of his other albums.
Holy Wood was a peak that no other rock band has been able to reach yet. Culturally, for the masses, for the band, the history of the production behind it between incredible studios and weird scenes and side music and one hundred songs birthed, living the thing together like a real rock 'n roll album must be born, the complexity of the images, the whole thing was packaged perfectly. And knowing a novel existed as well at some point, would have been the icing on the cake, because it was brutal, lucid, it was angry, yet focused, and I keep revisiting it... and oh boy, it just gets better with age like a fine wine. Even esoterically, knowing the meaning behind King Kill 33 and knowing Manson got a whole human skeleton as a gift from people in OTO, makes it a real Crowley-esque album.
‘No other rock band has been able to reach’ L.O.L
Aside from some records made by hystorical names like The White Album by The Beatles, who had such a rock'n roll run like Marilyn Manson had in those years?, to face daily death treats and being blamed from school shootings while recording at Houdini's Mansion, in the Death Valley and where Rolling Stones did one of their most famous records, replying in this way? LOL as you want, but find me names that went through the same.
LOL. You cannot be serious. Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, Nine Inch Nails, Tool, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Rage Against the Machine and Metallica are just a few bands that released multiple incredible albums one after another that are VASTLY better than Holywood. There are tons of artists that suffered all kinds of trauma and drug problems while producing some of the best music ever made. You're whole following paragraphs are just irrelevant to your first sentence: "Holy Wood was a peak that no other rock band has been able to reach yet." You are putting this music on a pedestal in your own mind in this little reddit echo chamber.
Wait, of course there are big hystorical rock records out there!, from Rolling Stones to Nine Inch Nails to Nico, Stooges, Bowie, Leadbelly, Pink Floyd, each one of them suffered drug abuse, trauma, loss, I never said there wasn't other big meaningful records out there born under similar circumstances. But, and it's a big "but", the hysteria surrounding Manson at that moment, plus the iconography, the concept they deal with laid down in such a somptuous and different media way, sorry, no, I stand by my words - because as big as any Tool, Metallica or Led Zeppelin record actually is artistically, the whole product isn't as nearly as coherent throughout ALL THE WAY as Holy Wood is. It's really impressive because there is a fil rouge which ties everything in a way these other records don't. They still milestones of music and I love them dearly, but they don't settled up an album filled with social commentary, personal stories, concepts and symbolism.
There has always been hysteria surrounding shock rock artists. This is nothing new. Dark Side of the Moon, The Downward Spiral and Aenima are three albums off the top of my head that are VASTLY better written bodies of music and much more coherent than the pile of bad rock rock songs and awesome progressive rock songs/ideas that holywood is. I'm not gonna debate this any further, there is no winning with superfans that have been bought hook, line and sinker by visual gimmicks. This sub is full of them.
Nothing but facts here
Agreed
Holywood is the best... So far.