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List Price: $18.98 | | Label: Nothing
Salesrank: 33900
Released: May 13, 2003 |
| Our Price: $6.92 |
| Used Price: $4.08 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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The Golden Age of Grotesque Track Listing:
1. Theater
2. This Is The New Sh*t
3. mOBSCENE
4. Doll-Dagga Buzz-Buzz Ziggety-Zag
5. Use Your Fist And Not Your Mouth
6. The Golden Age Of Grotesque
7. (s)AINT
8. Ka-Boom Ka-Boom
9. Slutgarden
10. Spade
11. Para-noir
12. The Bright Young Things
13. Better Of Two Evils
14. Vodevil
15. Obsequy (The Death Of Art)
Editorial Review:
The Golden Age of Grotesque was inspired by the seamy underside of Weimar Berlin, circa 1930. The album is constructed along the lines of Alice Cooper's 1975 gem, Welcome to My Nightmare, dipping in to the same cabaret of Cooper's "Some Folks." Unlike Cooper, however, this is no comic nightmare. "This isn't a show / This is my f*cking life / I'm not ashamed / You're entertained," Manson snarls in "Vodevil," making it abundantly clear that the singer was born in the wrong time and place and is more at home among the absinthe-drinking revelers in pre-Nazi Germany. The album possesses a dark, accessible beauty rather than the twisted industrial dissonance that pervades much of his earlier stuff. "mOBSCENE" is a thumping rocker that features a deranged cheerleading squad. "Ka-Boom Ka-Boom" is a rousing stomper that Manson penned in response to an exec's complaint that the new songs didn't rock. Its simple yet seditious chorus decries, "I like a big car, 'cause I'm a big star / I'll make a big rock & roll hit." Since 1998's Mechanical Animals, Manson's albums have become progressively more tuneful, and Grotesque continues the trend. --Jaan Uhelszki
The Golden Age of Grotesque Reviews:
At least the title of the album is appropriate. 
2008-05-30 - What happened here?
Mechanical was brilliant.
This one stinks!!!
Bad everything.
Grotesque is the key word here.
Bad music, bad lyrics.
Unmemorable, forgettable, boring.
Skip this one and go with Mechanical Animals.
One of Manson's best! 
2008-04-04 - Great solid album from Manson, this is right up there with Holywood & Anti-Christ! ROCK ON MANSON!!!
Crazy
2007-11-06 - This is the MM that the public hates! Just my taste. It is much more enjoyable than his newest disk.
He's the low art gloomanati. 
2007-10-11 - What do you do when you're a shock rocker whose main audience has matured past your sctick? That has been Marylyn Manson's dilemma ever since "Mechanical Animals" (or some may argue, "AntiAntichrist Superstar)". In Manson's case, he has been trying to recapture the attention those two albums brought him in the nineties. "Holy Wood (In The Shadow Of The Valley Of Death)" seemed like a desperate attempt to follow formula, and may be Manson's least interesting CD. But when he decided that just being his freakshow self without trying to paint inside the lines was just fine, he made this minor comeback.
"The Golden Age of Grotesque" even managed to come on the charts at number one, proving that his core audience was still ready to drink from Manson's absinthe-laden creative well. While Manson's claims that the decadence of Berlin in the 30's and how he feels like he was born in the wrong era were what informed the album, his material is pretty much familiar ground. Swipes at religion, hypocrisy, media and fame are all here, with the usual cruncy NiN indistrial guitar crunch, just as they have on all his other albums. The difference is, like on Mechanical Animals, most of these songs are really catchy. The cheerleaders in "mObscene" (yes, he nicked the idea from Faith No More, but so what?) are an instant ear grabber, and "This is the New Sh*t" lays the game plan all out in the first chorus of "babble babble, b*tch b*tch, rebel rebel, party party, sex sex sex and don't forget the violence." If that sounds like the kind of Manson you want to hear, then "Golden Age of Grotesque" will make you happy.
On the other hand, there is a point where the album starts to feel a bit obvious. "Use Your Fist and Not Your Mouth" and "Para-noir" seemed a bit too much like formula, and lines like "I memorized the words to the porno movies" are bad. Like the pictures in the CD booklet of Manson in his new make-up, there's just so much you can smear on before you cross a line into parodying yourself. But then again, he still makes the God-Nazis of the world think rock and roll is dangerous, and when he spits out a line like "I've got five middle fingers on my m-f-ing hand," well, he still sounds like he means it, maaaaannnn.
3.5- 4 stars. This is definitely a hard one to rate. 
2007-06-18 - Musically this album is pretty good. It's nothing too complex and almost takes on a nu-metal feel to it. It's catchy though and leaves the listener excited. There's no doubt that this album, musically, is more commercial than Manson's other albums, but that's not necessarily a bad thing unless you're looking for something extremely complex. I almost feel like this album was directed more at the teenage crowd, which is sort of a disappointment in a way- but theres not much you can do, I suppose.
The lyrics in this album, however, are definitely reprocessed from previous albums. I think by now fans are aware that Manson is all about sex, drugs, violence, religion, and government. At this point in his career, fans don't need to be told yet again that these things are the epitome of his being. It gets tired after awhile.
Otherwise, this album was pretty good. I think for the most part it appeals more to an adolescent crowd, but I guess that's the way Manson planned it. So if you enjoy an instrumentally average and catchy nu-metal sound with lyrics all about hatred for politics, government, and religion, I'd suggest you buy this.
