Categories : Music Reviews, Rock + Pop.
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Rating: 3.5/5 Released: May 13th, 2003 Reviewer: Jason Zalmanowitz |
As everyone’s favorite Goth/Glam Rocker’s newest brainchild opens with a demented circus-style sound, it becomes immediately obvious that this is going to be a fun, yet twisted, ride. Didn’t somebody say that 7 is the lucky number?
As Marilyn Manson’s last full-length feature, Holy Wood (in the shadow of the valley of death), fades from the limelight with it’s forgettable singles – a new substance complete with new singles is presented to the hungry audience. A veritable cornucopia of poppy melodies mixed with hard hitting metal riffs and a solid backbeat provides the foundations for each song on ‘The Golden Age of Grotesque’. But, like most new albums that are hitting the market, the first half of the CD is the only half worth playing for your friends.
It seems that in this day and age, with our youth’s attention span slowly trailing off…
But seriously, more often then not, albums are being released with the more popular – often better written – tracks in the first fifteen minutes, while the tracks that were written just to fill CD space are shoved onto the end. We are reminded of Queen’s of the Stone Age’s release “Songs For the Deafâ€, where not even the title track was worth listening too. Because of such circumstances, it makes this CD hard for the average listener to appreciate.
Nevertheless, it’s still obvious that this CD has gained the recognition in the hearts and pockets of today’s youth. Teenie boppers still quote “This is the New Shit†with their ramblings of ‘Babble, Babble, Bitch, Bitch \ Rebel, Rebel, Party, Party \ Sex, sex, sex, don’t forget the violence \ Blah, blah, blah’. Catchy, ain’t it?
If ramblings of catch phrases aren’t to your liking, then the pseudo-cheerleader backed mOBSCENE might be. This song, like so many Rock-Bar’s crowd pleasers, mixes the nu-metal basics with basically meaningless lyrics and a fun chorus that will guarantee to be in high rotations both on Music Video stations and radio alike.
To end the worthwhile fifteen minutes, Doll-dagga buzz-buzz ziggety zag (which effectively translates into ‘plaything-hemp sound that a bee makes-also means hype description of a movement-more descriptions of movement’) rolls out with a simulated jazz backbeat and a somewhat up tempo anarchistic lyrics that would make both slam dancers and half deaf Jazz musicians happy.
The Golden Age of Grotesque is far from a bad disc. In fact, it’s a great high-energy modern metal happening that rocks very hard and constantly. Pick it up, take a listen to it on your own and then bring your friends in on the new singles.
