Mechanical Animals by Marilyn Manson (CD, Sep-1998, Interscope Records USA)

Following the angry "Antichrist Superstar" album, "Mechanical Animals" left some fans disappointed. Myself recently introduced fully to the music, I love every incarnation of the man and the band. Finding out that this LP is written from two perspectives only makes me more intrigued. Introduced are a facet of Mr. Manson known as "Alpha" and a messianic sort of alien named "Omega."
I love instrumentation but I must warn that I focused almost solely on Manson's lyrics. They are just brilliant.
Alpha's offerings: "Great Big White World" "Mechanical Animals" "Disassociative" "The Speed of Pain" "Posthuman" "The Last Day On Earth" "Coma White"
Omega's voice: "The Dope Show" "Rock is Dead" "I Want to Disappear" "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" "New Model No. 15" "User Friendly" "Fundamentally Loathsome"
Track 1: Kicking off with "Great Big White World" is Alpha making a statement on conformity. There is no doubt of the meaning in "we are drained of our colors" and I love the line "oh my stitches itch, my prescription is low" for giving me that feeling of Mr. Manson's obsession with deformity.
2: "The Dope Show" is a classic. The video says it best, beautifully demonstrating the unfortunate alien becoming numbed by the world. At least that's my take.
3: "Mechanical Animals" follows themes of alienation beautifully with sweeping vocals.
4: "Rock is Dead" can be an anthem for 2008 every bit as when the album first came out. Every age has it's deterioration and decay. This illustrates that reality.
5: "Disassociative" is a personal favorite. It always makes me feel sweetly sad, though not so much as what follows.
6: "The Speed of Pain" opens with a beautiful blend of acoustic and electronica before the start of mournful vocals. "Times you hate always seem to last" speaks volumes about the state of being human. The back-up singing gives it a feel of classic Pink Floyd, which is never a bad thing. "The crack inside your f@*#ing heart is me" and "hope we die holding hands" display beautifully the yin and yang, the bitter and sweet inherent in mature love.
7: "Posthuman" says things that must make fundamentalists bleed out their ears. Alpha is shedding his humanity.
8: "I Want to Disappear" gives me the impression that Omega has succumbed to its earthbound state. He/she has given up on hope of freedom.
9: "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" obviously references how television influences the masses. And that was before reality T.V. polluted every time slot with its proliferation!
10: "New Model No. 15" is addicting. The no. 15 has great significance throughout the album messages and art. I recommend a web search if you are interested in this. It sounds like Omega got a day job and turned into a worker drone.
11: "User Friendly" has a great sound. It's "scorn or be scorned" attitude conveys a cold ambivalence toward the whole love thing. There is a terrific portion where a mechanical voice is backed by video game laser-like sounds.
12: "Fundamentally Loathsome" is the ultimate confession of surrender. All hope is lost.
13: "The Last Day on Earth" shows Alpha's romantic side. It's a georgeous and rich lamentation. The music is pure dirge.
14: "Coma White" is the sacrifice. Everyone is disposable and no one can be saved.
15: Apparently needs to be played over a computer. Guess what I'll be doing tonight?

This is my favorite Marilyn Manson album yet (and I have the whole collection). In fact, this may be my favorite album PERIOD.

This was Manson's first album after his cross-over from strictly death-metal shock-rock on the borderline-satanic sounding Antichrist Superstar album. With this album comes the softer, lighter side of the group. Morphing from stringy-hair bandmates plastered in perpetual black to a prettier glam look raised eyebrows. But the sound is still 100% amazing artistry, especially the guitar content. And the lyrical content? As far as I'm concerned, it's their best ever. These tracks will make you think. They will take you to the brink of suicide and back. Intelligently and honestly written, but not for the faint of heart!

The most well-known tracks of this album are "Don't Like The Drugs (But The Drugs Like Me)", "Rock is Dead", and "Dope Show", but I also recommend "Great Big White World", "Disassociative", and "Fundamentally Loathsome" as my personal favorites.

If you don't have this CD in your Manson collection, I strongly suggest you find a good used bargain on eBay and give it a listen!

Because of a confusion with my Paypal account , I never recieved this cd . I will try to purchase this cd in the future . My account was penalized for not having the suffiecient funds for the cd .

I hope I can do business with the seller in the near future .

Thank you for the offer .

Sincerely ,
Gary K. Smith

Bought this CD b/c i like marilyn manson only 3 good songs 2 4 7 ... the rest are sloooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwww songs if you like fast pased music with a good beat i sugest dont buy this

my second favorite of his albums. bought this the day it came out and in my opinion $20 wasnt enough for a work of art like this. great album.

The instrumental's clash so percertly with the lyrics. Unlike sounding like a dezil, really Manson is a sense of well, nighhilist pride. I didn't buy because I'm not Cristian. I'm very Cristian, but music is different. Anyway I have three differnt Manson albums and like this the best. I bought it because I need an escape sometimes. But I didn't buy it because I listen to it every single day. Awesome Lp.

I mainly bought the cd for my Ipod. And I was very happy with the cd they sent me. I would buy more it they have the ones i like.

I love the artwork marilyn manson always has great artwork and the other thing is the explicit content sticker is on the slipcase so to me it is rare and I am very happy about it.

Cd was in awesome condition,it arrived at my door within days!!!Hope to purchase more products from them in the near future.I was impressed with the whole expierience,you can buy/bid with amazing confidence.A+++++++++++.....

The CD arrived in mint condition, factory sealed in shrinkwrap and most of all, it arrived quickly. Great service overall.

great cd...fast shipping...would buy from again!

CD was new and in great quality.

shipping was prompt and orderly. great seller

well I like pimento cheese sandwiches with chili...a lot I may add.Well one day I was eating a pimento cheese sandwich with chili and it hit me,I want to turn on the radio.well I rubbed on it trying to get it a little excited,and low and behold there was a power switch to turn it on!!!.So I put down my pimento cheese sandwich next to my chili and found a station that I liked...and it was playing Marilyn Manson...You know I bet he likes pimento cheese sandwiches with chili...he looks like the kinda guy that would anyway!

Really great cd. I love MM and have bought all on eBay and found them all in Mint condition. This was the completion of my set I own. I have them all now. Was pleased with entire transaction.

Not what I would call my FAVORITE album, but it's definitely up there. Great sound! Marilyn Manson rocks!

Mechanical Animals is hands down Manson's greatest album. Well, actually, it's better than great...it's a brilliant masterpiece. Manson may have made goth popular again by mixing his own special blend but here we see him going back and paying tribute to those goth/glam masters who came before (Sex Gang Children, David Bowie, etc. etc.). This is not shock rock. This is not scary music. This is truth. Dig in deep and find out for yourself. 5 Huge Stars.

I decided to buy this cd because I love Marilyn Manson. There's nothing I dislike about it. I mean, obviously there's certain songs I like less than others but that's with every cd. The seller, bargainbincds is excellent. I got what was promised and shipping was generally quick.

This is One of my favorite CD's EVER by any group. i listen to alot of pop, rock, and 80's but none will ever be this good!! too many people focus on the words to songs, the words to some in some of the songs on this album are seriously harsh, but not enough credit is given to the actual music. The guitars are amazing!!!! I told my fiends to just try & listen to the music, not the words one day- they were amazed how great of a group they really are!! THIS IS A MUST HAVE IN ANY COLLECTION!!!