The Depths · All albums

Antichrist Superstar

Marilyn Manson · 1996

• Scores: Noise 4, Unease 3, Complexity 2 (each 1 to 5)
• Genre: Industrial, Metal, Rock, Industrial Metal, Shock Rock
• Mood: hostile, theatrical, bleak
• Sound: concept album, industrial rhythms, distorted guitars, spoken-word interludes, dark atmosphere, long runtime

Marilyn Manson recorded this at Nothing Studios in New Orleans over about eight months in 1996, produced by Manson, Trent Reznor and Dave Ogilvie before Sean Beavan replaced Ogilvie. Twiggy Ramirez played most of the guitar and wrote much of the music. Cryptorchid begins with deadpan vocals through layered microphone filters, then switches to a vocoder over a Mellotron. The title track ends with synthetic speech from Apple's PlainTalk software, and a hidden track follows a long run of silent ones. Manson described the concept as a tribute to Nietzsche's Übermensch.

Track list

1. Irresponsible Hate Anthem (4:17)
2. The Beautiful People (3:38)
3. Dried Up, Tied and Dead to the World (4:15)
4. Tourniquet (4:29)
5. Little Horn (2:43)
6. Cryptorchid (2:44)
7. Deformography (4:31)
8. Wormboy (3:56)
9. Mister Superstar (5:04)
10. Angel with the Scabbed Wings (3:51)
11. Kinderfeld (4:51)
12. Antichrist Superstar (5:14)
13. 1996 (4:01)
14. Minute of Decay (4:44)
15. The Reflecting God (5:36)
16. Man That You Fear (6:10)
17. Empty Sounds of Hate (1:38)