Fifth full-length studio album from Marilyn Manson and the follow-up to 'Holy Wood' which was released in 2000. 'The Golden Age Of Grotesque' is a return to the filth and gloom of his early work, with inspiration for the album coming from a broad range of sources such as 1930's Hollwood, Vaudeville and the extreme height of cabaret decadence and so-called 'degenerate art' in Weimar, Berlin.

May 2003

Marilyn Manson, the world's only true rock star, returns with his eagerly awaited fifth studio album. Inspired by "the glamour of 1930's Hollywood, the grotesque of vaudeville and the cabaret decadence and 'degenerate' art of Weimar Berlin", 'The Golden Age Of Grotesque' delivers another stunning mix of stadium metal and industrial electro-pop that fuses the trademark Manson sound on tracks such as 'Use Your Fist And Not Your Mouth' with a more electro approach on 'This Is The New Sh*t' and the new twisted cabaret of the title track. Includes the single 'mOBSCENE' plus two UK bonus tracks - 'Tainted Love' and 'Baboon Rape Party'.

"This album is about expression. The imagination and personality of the individual cannot be trapped by small minds or defined by any one person. The genius of art finds sanctuary among children and madmen to survive. That, is who we are" - Marilyn Manson

• Rolling Stone (5/29/03, p.62) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...[Manson] excels at absorbing what's out there and distilling it through his anti-charisma until it's simultaneously fresh and putrid..."
  Entertainment Weekly (5/16/03, p.72) - "...[The album] finds a middle ground between the pseudo-glam glory of MECHANICAL ANIMALS and the noisier backsliding of HOLY WOOD....Inventive..." - Grade: B-

Personnel: Marilyn Manson (vocals, guitar, saxophone, Mellotron, synthesizer, bass, drums, loops); John (guitar, strings, piano); Tim Skold (guitar, accordion, keyboards, synthesizer, bass, programming); MW Gacy (keyboards, synthesizer, loops); Ginger Fish (drums).
Producers: Marilyn Manson, Tim Skold, Ben Grosse.
Recorded at Doppelherz, The Mix Room, Burbank, California and Ocean Way Studios, Los Angeles, California.
Marilyn Manson proudly wears his musical influences on his band's fifth studio album, where the perpetually androgynous singer and company continue their crusade of industrial rock outrage, making nods to forerunners while never losing that which is quintessentially Manson. "mOBSCENE," reeks of ANGEL DUST-era Faith No More. "Para Noir" offers a romantic agenda in grand Manson style, with little chance for radio edit status. "Better Of Two Evils" and "Your Fist And Not Your Mouth" rally with undeniable choruses while "This Is The New Shit" nails a Korn-inflected groove. The set's down-tempo title track is built around a haunting piano line, and "(s)AINT" deftly captures the Powerman 5000 style. The album track most likely to get extensive re-mixing is the incredibly catchy "Ka-boom Ka-boom." THE GOLDEN AGE OF GROTESQUE drops yet another bomb on convention, and Marilyn Manson clearly planned it that way.

Initially mentored by Nine Inch Nails mainman Trent Reznor, Marilyn Manson created an accessible, highly successful variant on the former's electronic-tinged industrial rock. Manson took shock-rock to a whole new plateau in the late-1990s, influenced by past theatrical rockers like Kiss, Alice Cooper, and Motley Crue--and not since the days of those bands had religious and parental groups despised a rock group so much. Of course, the resulting controversy endowed Marilyn Manson with publicity and album sales in equally vast amounts. Although Manson talked about retiring from the music biz after the release of his 2004 album, he came back refreshed in 2007 with EAT ME DRINK ME, inspired by his crumbling marriage to Dita Von Teese.