Antichrist Superstar
Marilyn Manson
1996
Album Summary
Antichrist Superstar is the second studio album by American rock band Marilyn Manson. It was released on October 8, 1996, by Nothing and Interscope Records. It was recorded at Nothing Studios in New Orleans and produced by the band's eponymous vocalist along with Sean Beavan, former Skinny Puppy producer Dave Ogilvie and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. The recording of the album was marred by excessive drug use, which provoked a high level of antagonism between band members. Consequently, it was their last release to feature contributions from founding guitarist Daisy Berkowitz, who acrimoniously quit partway through recording. A rock opera and a concept album, Antichrist Superstar was the first installment in a trilogy which included succeeding releases Mechanical Animals (1998) and Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) (2000). The central storyline on the album revolved around a supernatural being who seizes all power from humanity in order to initiate an apocalyptic end event; a populist demagogue who is driven solely by resentment, misanthropy, and despair, he uses his newfound position to destroy the world. The record can be seen as a social critique, utilizing this premise as a metaphor for the perceived fascist elements of the conservative political movement and the Christian right in North America. Preceded by "The Beautiful People", whose music video received three nominations at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards, the album was both a critical and commercial success. Lorraine Ali of Rolling Stone credited Antichrist Superstar with ending the dominance of grunge within popular music. In the years since its release, various publications have listed it among the best albums of the 1990s. The album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, and has sold almost two million copies in the United States alone. As of 2011, worldwide album sales had surpassed over seven million copies. The album was supported by the controversial "Dead to the World Tour", which was heavily criticized by elements of the Christian right. Nearly every North American venue the band visited was picketed by religious organizations, predominantly because of unfounded, exaggerated claims of onstage drug use, bestiality, and Satanic rituals, including animal and even human sacrifice. The band also found itself the target of congressional hearings, which attempted to implicate the group in a fan's suicide. Several previously unreleased recordings were issued on soundtracks throughout 1997, including "Apple of Sodom" and "Long Hard Road Out of Hell".
WikipediaLike a ship sailing into lava. What a weird, touchy, rapey, gothy creep.
Listen, I was going to Industrial goth clubs and dancing in cages with the best of them back in the mid-90’s. You’d think I’d be pretty familiar with this one but I’m not. I’ve heard this album hundreds of times, but since Bryan Warner has always freaked me out, it’s not one I’ve ever owned, nor one that I listen to by my own choice. This is the first time I’ve heard it front to back and really listened. There are a couple bops, I guess. But I recall people that I typically think of as having good taste just RAVING about Marilyn Manson. He was supposed to be a Trent Reznor protégée genius and it I dunno, it just feels like shock for the sake of shock, like Ozzy biting the head off a bat. Yeah, that was metal af, but that poor bat. The lyrics are sophomoric and I mostly wish I had skipped this album. I now know what this prick sounds like saying the word Pussy, which my brain has never allowed me to hear before. I may never have sex again. (Please let the next album be a babyface classic or something)
i really can't be arsed with this. the music is all about posturing and shouting "look at me i'm weird". really falls apart when it turns out brian is a bit rapey.
preditor creep. didn't listen. man doesnt deserve those meager spotify royalties
Sexual assault may be the least of his crimes. I can see how a vulnerable teenager could believe these messages of hate and destruction, leading to terrible consequences. Vile disgusting music for depressives. Shame, as some of the riffs are pretty good - it's the lyrical content and vocal delivery that spoils it.
I really don't care about what the Christian right or what homeland security thinks about Marilyn Manson's "music", the bottom line is it sucks! You can pile on as much anti-Christ bullshit, vile and hateful devil crap you want, but it doesn't make it more listenable. In fact, I found it at times unlistenable, stupid and annoying. If this is so-called "shock" rock, give me Alice Cooper, at least he had a sense of humor. Don't support this sick, creepy loser!
This took me back to being in elementary school and being horrified by teenagers wearing MM t-shirts in the mall. There's always been a mythology around this album and now that I've actually listened to it... I found it pretty upsetting. Incredibly dark and evil. Disgusting, primordial imagery. Filth. Hate. Suffering. Nightmare fuel. I grimaced while looking at the lyrics. But I think the reason that it caused such a stir when it came out is heavily based in the fact that it's actually pretty good. This was done well enough that it couldn't be written off as bullshit and it caused shock waves. I don't really like it and I don't want to listen to this again but I think I have to give it a 4/5.
Not sure whether to give a 4 or a 5, but I’ll probably go with a 4. A real shame to see all the low ratings due to what Brian has done. With that being said, this album is a damn masterpiece. The Beautiful People is one of the greatest metal songs ever.
My favourite. Everything about Marilyn Manson fascinates me and turns me on.
Brian Warner owes his entire musical credibility to Trent Reznor. The aggressive, hard-hitting industrial sound is not just an influence, no, Reznor is literally producing a good chunk of this album, including the best moments. The Beautiful People? Reznor. Tourniquet? Also Reznor. The Reflecting God? Fuckin' Nine Inch Nails, baby! You can argue that Warner has his on imprint on the album, but the gaps where Reznor isn't producing are also gaps of quality. Compared to Downward Spiral or Pretty Hate Machine, Antichrist Superstar is a cheap imitation. As ambitious as it is, though, the pacing is well-done! The concept album breaks chunks of tracks into "cycles", giving some credence to the runtime. Concept albums clocking in at over an hour long are prone to making my eyes roll, but at least execution here isn't bad. Warner touches on capitalism and satirizes fascism while inverting religious conservatism on it's head with the whole horror antichrist aesthetic. It's clever way to shock your way into the mainstream, like the Sex Pistols or Elvis Presley. For all the great bits in the album, there's a lot that ends up dragging things down. The middle "cycle" of the album is really what bores me the most. Beyond that, the Begotten aesthetic doesn't really phase or impress me. There's potential in here, but it's too cluttered, too commercial for it to be great.
It's been decades since I have heard this full album, and it's not as good a si recall. Plenty of great songs, but I still prefer Portrait of an American Family and Mechanical Animals.
I had a Manson phase when this first came out. I thought it was awesome and then I started moving away from this into heavier and faster stuff when he wanted to be a glam rocker. Upon listening to it so many years later I was a bit surprised. I knew that it had a few songs that I could still enjoy but I forgot about some of the deeper cuts. This album works best when it goes harder; more specifically it works best when you can really hear the Reznor influence loud and clear. There are some songs in the middle that are okay but a bit dull. Luckily it gets better by the end. That title track is killer. How could I forget? The vocal fry and "aren't I just so tortured and InSAnE ?!" voice that Manson uses can be really grating. When he just belts his songs out he's pretty good. Overall I didn't want to like this because well, Manson is a lame edge lord d-bag. This album is damn good though. I can't deny it. One last thing I have to get outta my system: all you "cancel culture" people are a joke. I don't like him either but get off your high horses and separate art from artist. Do you do the same for Bobby Womack, John Lennon, or any of the other scuzzie people that made this list?
Raw, loud, provocative, creepy and intense, this is album is peak Marilyn Manson.
I figured I’d never listened to this beyond Beautiful People, but I got flashbacks to a LAN party in 1998 when Jared was playing this and Mechanical Animals on repeat ALL NIGHT. Jared, you’re a weird one. Anyway, there’s a lot of anger and no subtlety in the writing, and lots of interesting things in the engineering. Important arguments made about hegemony, commercialism, celebrity, but Altogether, it’s about as redeeming as a Nuremberg Rally speech, but still “notable” in a similar sort of way. Glad I listened. Influential artifact of a specific time, and good for a bucket list, not a “best” list.
Screamo music from a horrible person. Nothing amazing in this album worth revisiting. Cancel and move on.
An appropriate haloween offering from the old generator, some good metal riffs etc but Marilyn Manson is still too scary for me
The Christian Right's idea of danger, a Daily Mail reader's idea of a worst nightmare, a thirteen year old's idea of rebellion, a drugged out rockstar's idea of a coherent concept album and my idea of bog standard mid-nineties metal. About as dangerous as your wank sock. Best Tracks: Beautiful People; Wormboy; 1996
I do not like this. Only made it two songs in before I switched. I don't want it fucking up my Spotify algorithms.
So I guess it's not OK to listen to Marilyn Manson these days. And I was never a fan of his to begin with, so good riddance.
I was truely hoping for more from this album given I had listened to and enjoyed his later work. This album comes across as one big hot distorted mess with nothing discernible to note. 1 Star!
I lasted until the fifth song. It's chaotic, noisy, dissonant, angry and the guy's voice is... of subjective quality. I saw Manson live at a festival about ten years ago. He was possibly the worst live act I've ever seen - totally wasted and unable to keep up with his playback. Turns out I can't stand him in studio quality either.
I refuse to acknowledge or listen to this album. This guy is a monster and rapist.
The heavy sounds and music is good but his creepy voice comes across as awkward. He's also cancelled these days and I'll be damned if I'm positively rating a cancelled celeb!
I'm not bothered that this artist or album are controversial. This is just rubbish. Awful screaming, I can occasionally pick up the lyrics which are deliberately trying to be controversial to the point of being worthless and boring. The music, when musical, is occasionally industrial hard rock, but nothing special. Up there with Venom and Pere Ubu for most unbelievable album on this list.
2/10. I don't know why I would want to listen to something that tries so hard to sound bad.
Loved this when it came out. Now I can only listen to Beautiful People and Antichrist Superstar. The thought of ever having being a fan of the lead singer makes me cringe.
Melhor indicação até agora. Amo esse álbum, mas já conhecia esse muito bem kkkk.
I never listenend to MM when I grow up as a metalhead. I am quite pleased on the production and how the album is so great. Kudos!
Directo en la nostalgia. Es un disco largo que de repente tiene un par de canciones que se pudieron guardar pero en general es muy bueno. Tourniquet fue mi favorita en esta ocasión y The Reflecting God el hallazgo de esta escuchada. Sonido brutal, crítica sin tapujos y un concepto visual sin precedentes en el mainstream (tan mainstream como se le pueda considerar) hacen de este disco un verdadero hito. 4.5 estrellas que suben a 5 porque definitivamente tengo que escucharlo más seguido. Songs: The Reflecting God, Tourniquet, Antichrist Superstar
4.5 | Con toda la nostalgia y siendo un disco que me gusta tanto y que he esuchado cientos de veces, no siento que puedo darle el 5 completo. Es cierto que puede ser demasiado en cuanto a ser de una sola nota, creo que a pesar de lo bueno de este album cualquiera de los dos discos siguientes fueron mejores en su producción y calidad musical (a pesar de aquel punto de que en retrospectiva se debían ver como un tríptico, que funciona bastante bien por cierto). Lo que es cierto es que el lugar lo tiene más que merecido, siempre fue muy facil tacharlo como únicamente shock rock sin valor pero en realidad las letras, el concepto y todo el proyecto tiene mucho más valor, detalle y mensaje de lo que pareciera. En realidad se le puede llamar a cierto grado filosófico; no, en serio, la mezcla de anticristianismo, profecía cabalística, elitismo teosófico, ciencia ficción transformacional y películas de terror en realidad forman quizá uno de los mejores argumentos en contra de la falsa moral e hipocresía de la derecha que en su época tuvieran tal capacidad de difusión. El mensaje de Manson, debajo de ese maquillaje, es que la gente necesita sus pesadillas. No importa cuánto tratemos de ser educados, la ira y el deseo nos reclamarán en la oscuridad una vez más. El sonido de Antichrist Superstar coincide con la grandiosidad de sus argumentos. Sus 16 canciones al estilo Sabbath de los 70, pero más duro; los arreglos se hacen eco de Queen en alcance operístico pero son más intensos; el estado de ánimo debe su frío vampírico a Bauhaus siendo todo en realidad a nivel musical producido y orquestado por Trent Reznor, con una mano que no se podría sentir mas fuerte, termina con un disco que suena espectacular, fuerte, detallado, atascado de capas a pesar del detalle que en efecto hay algunas partes en que su mano quizá es demasiado y la música pareciera que es NIN. Creo que el mayor valor a pesar del mensaje real, valor artístico y otros puntos que tiene el disco es que ese shock rock, ese valor de poder llamar la atención, choquear, confrontar y "espantar" a una generación anterior, siempre se me ha hecho no solo deseable sino necesaria para la juventud y, tristemente, veo casi en total ausencia ese lado en la música actual. Nada llama la atención, nada levanta ni una ceja, la música está demasiado cuidada, pulida y temerosa de decir algo que sea tomado a mal. Esa etiqueta que normalmente se usa peyorativa de shock value es algo que, cuando se realiza bien, aumenta y puede crear un valor artístico y social totalmente nuevo y más fuerte.
One of my fave albums ever. I've always appreciated the depravity why would I stop now?
Separating the art from the artist - this album changed the 1990s for me. It is brilliant, aggressive, reflective, seductive and dangerous. Unfortunately, this turns out to be a good description of Brian Warner too. Thing is - the warning signs were there from the very start. Beautiful People is a Glitter beat, for the love of all things. Such a shame that people allowed him to carry on. The album itself is an easy 5 stars - and that's what I'll be rating it. But I couldn't listen to it again. I tried. And I just can't dissociate enough to let myself continue.
I've listened to this record in the hundreds of times. I was a massive MM fan in the 90s. But at 42, I still listen to NIN but I've left MM behind. I think I grew out of it. And Manson's rape issues make this a little different to listen to now. I'm still rating this high. It changed goth in the 90s and it led all us kids looking for something heavier than Nirvana into the open arms of metal. The other thing to mention about this record is it's narrative arc. Not a lot of concept records really work. They don't take you on the journey the artist is trying to sell. And it gets annoying when artists try and force a concept when there isn't on there (looking at you Corgan). But this is an actual, honest to god (pun intended) concept album. Telling a story through music and lyrics with a begining, middle, and end.
this album is cool i guess? im kind of a sucker for the 90s industrial sound but i dunno if this is really the best example of it. it kinda sucks actually. if i didnt love the sound so much this would suck. like half the tracks bang but when it tries to get slower it just doesnt work very much, plus its a little too long. i didnt feel the length that much but really only because i had to keep taking breaks in the first half and in the second half i was busy adding an album to rym. so w/e. also he drops the hard r in the CHORUS of the FIRST SONG what the fuck.
This album is great. Some lesser known Manson tracks on here, but plenty of great jams. Plus some hits.
I was only familiar of a couple of these songs. I more familiar with the stories of Marilyn removing his bottom ribs. The album was good.
Ja, topper qua genre. Paar hele goeie nummers, rest okee. Niet mijn favoriete artiest of album, maar om een beetje tegengewicht te geven toch de 4 sterren. You Beautiful People 🤘🏼
Rating: 7/10 Best songs: Beautiful people, Deformography, Minute of decay
High school staple. Hasn’t stood the test of time as much as my other favorites from this era, but thematically it’s strong and there is are some cool dynamic shifts.
Nunca había escuchado este disco completo, pero obvio sí conocía "The Beautiful People", y gracias a Casper, "The man that you fear". Me llamó la atención descubrir que este disco es una "Rock Opera" y las canciones están relacionadas. También me resultó interesante la historia del disco y todo lo que tuvieron que pasar para poderlo grabar. Aunque no es el tipo de música que me gusta, y definitivamente no escucharía el disco muy seguido, debo reconocer que tiene algo de vanguardista, polémico y atrevido que tiene rato que no escucho.
IDK, all this glam/satanist aesthetics don't appeal to me at all. I can appreciate the music and production, though, these are fun.
The music is intensely cool, the lyrics intensely disturbing. The album cover scared my 12 year old. Lots of clear NIN influence (or maybe literally just Trent Reznor adding NIN touches). Can't call it a 5 mainly because of the disturbing lyrics and the fact that Marilyn Manson is individually pretty disturbing. Favorite tracks: Dried Up, Tied and Dead to the World, Tourniquet, Cryptorchid (mellotron!), Deformography, Antichrist Superstar, The Reflecting God.
He is one strange dude, but Marilyn Manson is a great lyricist. He's pretty good at the music part of songwriting too (with help from his band). He really mastered that angry pounding guitar sound (with a little electronica help). The Beautiful People was always one of my favorite angry pump up songs. Some other highlights for me are The Reflecting God, 1996, Mister Superstar, and Angel with the Scabbed Wings. Could do with a little less screaming. Can't deny the energy they bring.
This one was difficult to do. How do you separate the art from the artist? Knowing how terrible of a person Marilyn Manson seems to be, it was very difficult to listen to this and be like "yeah, it's pretty good, BUT..." The unadulterated rage and anger built up in this album, you can really feel it. It's directed at the right people, the hypocrisy at the world, religion, society, etc. And yet we still have the man who created it, which makes this so much more difficult to deal with. I would have liked this more from someone else. Knowing more about the musician makes the songs more difficult. Knowing more about the actors certainly makes movies difficult for me, even if they are classics. But I am still giving this 4 stars, I liked it a lot, nut I have a LOT of misgivings with it. It was well-done, well-produced. There was at least one song that sounded a LOT like Nine Inch Nails to me.
The songs skitter along on Moon's drums, powered by Townshend's guitar - Daltrey's fierce vocals are the sound of youth in rebellion, needing to be heard.
A very consistent rock album, probably the best of Manson´s golden era, between 1994 and 2003.
As a 90s kid, Marilyn always had a connotation of being very hardcore/evil. I was kind of dreading this because metal is absolutely not my thing. I'm happy to report that this album rules. It is closer to NIN than Slipknot, in every good way. I was also a bit surprised to realize that I had heard Beautiful People before. It is a good track.
Una de les grans fites dels 90. Un disc inacabable i inabarcable, ple de violència musical, amb un so i una imatge que feien por i sobresurtien de tot el que sentíem a l'época (fins i tot de Nine Inch Nails). Grans temes com 'Tourniquet', 'Beautiful People', 'Antichrist Superstar' o 'Chryptorchid' es barregen amb d'altres amb menys melodia i més pensats en harmonitzar la violència i missatge del conjunt
And here we go, the first problematic artist to show up on here and most certainly wont be the last. Sad part is i used to love this album but now its kinda hard to listen to.
4/5. Manson sucks, Trent’s a god. Musically it’s great but Manson needs to shut up
Totally missed Marilyn in my musical journey. Very enjoyable, interesting wiki background.
Awesome album, listened to it lots in my early 20s, and really loved the dark gritty feel of it. 4 stars, but leaning towards 4.5.
I am not a fan of this kind of music, (at least I wasn’t) so my hopes were not night for this. But I really enjoyed it. Great beats and energy and anger, and the music is much more accessible than I expected. I have listened to this a couple of times and we surely listen again.
Solid album all around. This album was the album, in my opinion, pushed MM to superstar status, no pun intended.
This is much better than I thought it would be. 4.5 Much heavier than I expected and I really enjoy that
This is an album I've listened to before. Ignoring all controversy surrounding Brian and just rating the album I would give it 4/5. The NIN influences are obvious as Trent Reznor produced several songs on the album. Some songs are great but there's a few that are just ok and keeping the score from reaching 5/5.
ALBUM RATING: 3.68 ALBUM GRADE: B- TRACK RATINGS: 1. Irresponsible Hate Anthem - 4 2. The Beautiful People - 3.5 3. Dried Up, Tied and Dead to the World - 4 4. Tourniquet - 3.5 5. Little Horn - 3.5 6. Cryptorchid - 3.5 7. Deformography - 4 8. Wormboy - 3.5 9. Mister Superstar - 4 10. Angel With the Scabbed Wings - 4 11. Kinderfeld - 3.5 12. Antichrist Superstar - 4 13. 1996 - 3.5 14. Minute of Decay - 3.5 15. The Reflecting God - 3.5 16. Man That You Fear - 3.5 99. [untitled] - 3
-S Tier- Beautiful People 1996 The Reflecting God -A Tier- Irresponsible Hate Anthem Tourniquet Angel with the Scabbed Wings Kinderfeld Antichrist Superstar Minute of Decay -B Tier- Dried Up, Tied and Dead to the World Little Horn Deformography Wormboy Mister Superstar Man That You Fear -C Tier- Cryptorchid AVG SCORE: 3.7 / 5
Beyond The Beautiful People, there are more hits that show Manson's vocal mastery. Felt like a 14 yo again
Disco industrial y un tanto "gore" con guitarras potentes y afiladas. Algunas canciones muy bien construídas
I thought it was a good mix of intensity with great rhythmic melodies. “Wormboy” especially reminded me of a NIN song, which I dug a lot. I was gonna give this four stars at first because of how much I just liked the general sound, but noticed that it became a little repetitive. Bands like Deftones and NIN both accomplished what this album tries to do better during the same time period. As much as I liked some of the songs here, I don’t feel comfortable enough listening to Marilyn Manson for further exploration. Faves: Irresponsible Hate Anthem, The Beautiful People, 1996, The Reflecting God
Là je dis oui mon Robert, ce détraqué mental de Marilyn Manson m'a défoncé la gueule pendant 1h15. J'en redemande.
Honestly much better than I expected. I had always thought more energy went into his image than his music from songs here and there.
Its Marylin Manson. 'nuff said. I think a lot of the initial shock of who he is has worn off, kind of like how Metallica used to be the end all be all most evil band. There is always someone new to push the envelope and Manson was it. Take away the theatric that come with his act though and its a pretty run of the mill rock album.
Oh to have heard this when I was 12 years old, when this wasn't overly edgy and Manson himself wasn't known to be a fucking creep.