The High End of Low (album)

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The High End of Low
The High End of Low cover
Studio album by Marilyn Manson
Released May 26, 2009
Recorded March 2008–January 2009 in Los Angeles and Hollywood, California
Label Interscope
Producer Marilyn Manson, Chris Vrenna, Twiggy Ramirez, Sean Beavan
Marilyn Manson chronology
Lost & Found
(2008)
The High End of Low
(2009)

The High End of Low is Marilyn Manson's seventh studio album. It is scheduled for release in North America on May 26, 2009 by Interscope Records. The album was recorded in Hollywood Hills throughout 2008 and January 2009 by Marilyn Manson, Twiggy Ramirez and Chris Vrenna; former live guitarist Wes Borland also confirmed recording "three or four" songs with the band, although it isn't clear if his contributions can be heard in the final mixes. Sean Beavan, who was responsible for mixing the band's Mechanical Animals and Eat Me, Drink Me albums, acted as co-producer for The High End of Low. Following the release of The High End of Low, Marilyn Manson will resume touring.

Manson has attested that The High End of Low is about having his "soul trampled on by women" but is also something that "makes you laugh." Manson claimed in an interview with Revolver that the album "wipes the floor with everything we've done before" citing it's "guitar solos and brutal, reckless screaming" and lyrics which he described as "relationship-destroying statements. Some of it is stuff I should have said to my ex-wife. Some are things I've never said to the world." It has currently spawned the singles "We're from America" and "Arma-goddamn-motherfuckin-geddon".

Background information

Production

Initially Manson revealed the recording session's for the band's seventh album would take place between March and May 2008, that two Eat Me, Drink Me b-sides may be included, and that he would again be working with Tim Skold, as well as Slayer's Kerry King, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Nick Zinner and James Iha on the album; a demo of one song was also allegedly recorded, along with written ideas for other potential tracks.

In January 2008, however, it was announced that Tim Skold had departed from the band, coinciding with the return of former bassist Twiggy Ramirez. Manson said in an exclusive interview with The Heirophant that were plans of recording an album together once the Rape of the World tour ended. Though he had yet to divulge any sonic or thematic details of the album, Manson asserted that the four-year gap between the release of The Golden Age of Grotesque and its successor was "a mistake I don't want to repeat in the future," and that "I just feel like there is a big change happening now. It's going to be the one. Eat Me, Drink Me is opening the window and this is going to be the Hurricane Katrina."

The first photograph released by the band to promote The High End of Low, taken by Delaney Bishop.

In a February 2008 interview with Steppin' Out, Manson described the new album as, "very ruthless, very heavy, and very violent."

In March 2008, a news blog on the official MySpace profile of Twiggy Ramirez's side project Goon Moon stated that "Jeordie is working on a new Marilyn Manson studio album". A week later Manson's MySpace profile was updated with a new banner, showing a spectral analysis of an audio track, possibly referring to the fact that they are indeed in the studio recording new tracks. In addition to this the track "The Fall of Adam" was added the the page's music player, which may imply a reprisal of the Celebritarian theme.

On October 19, 2008, Manson and Ramirez announced at the 2008 Scream Awards' after party that the album will "sound much like Antichrist Superstar" and that the recording sessions are "pretty much done." It was also revealed that live guitarist Wes Borland would remain with the band while they tour in support of the record. In an interview with Spinner.com released the following day, Manson put forth an explanation of Ramirez's experience working on the album: "This record is the record we always wanted to make and [Twiggy] is writing from a point of view that I've always written from lyrically. I don't think earlier on he had the opportunity to be damaged, and his soul to be trampled on by women as much as me. So now that his penis has been cut off metaphorically, and been smashed into fucking Sloppy Joe's, someone shit on his heart a thousand times, we tried to put a musical face to that." A statement by Manson that the band are considering releasing a song before the end of the year implies that the album is unlikely to be released in winter 2008 as Manson had declared in May.

The second photograph promoting The High End of Low.

In December 2008, Manson revealed the sonic qualities of three tracks. One is said to feature "a coven of witchy girls," the other "acoustic swampiness that harkens back to when [he] was living in New Orleans," and the song Manson plays guitar on also features him "snorting something — whatever it might have been" as a percussive instrument.

The Heirophant administrator Filicide has described one of five tracks whose title has been revealed as "the next Para-Noir," citing "Instrumental more so in that it's hypnotic..similar, but much longer than Para-Noir."


On February 2, 2009, the album's final title was revealed through Rolling Stone's online Smoking Section, and in a short interview Manson revealed that a music video would be produced for the nine-minute "I Want to Kill You Like They Do in the Movies". Rudy Coby shortly after hinted that the choice for the album's first single had been changed, in response to a MySpace user's comment that the video would be "legendary". Via his Facebook page, Coby confirmed that the single had been switched to "Arma-goddamn-motherfuckin-geddon" at the insistence of Marilyn Manson's label, Interscope Records.

Later that month, Manson briefly discussed the album in the monthly issue of Revolver, where he revealed the titles of two new songs, "I Want to Kill You Like They Do in the Movies" and "Armagoddamnmotherfuckinggeddon" (now known as "Arma-goddamn-motherfuckin-geddon"). The Heirophant administrator Filicide described "I Want to Kill You Like They Do in the Movies" as "the next Para-Noir," citing that the similarity lay in the "Instrumentals more so in that it's hypnotic..similar to, but much longer than Para-Noir." He also revealed that "Arma-goddamn-motherfuckin-geddon" was "like Rock Is Dead on steroids."

The latest promotional photograph for The High End of Low era.

On March 10, 2009, a blog entry by producer Sean Beavan confirmed two additional titles, "15" and the rumored "Four Rusted Horses". "Armagoddamnmotherfuckinggeddon" was alternatively spelled "Arma-God Damn-Mother Fuckin'-Geddon", leaving the official title unclear. The following day, The Heirophant user MindRelapse commented on the album, saying "The material I heard did not indicate that Manson has set out to create a sequel or counterpart to anything he's done in the past. More so than "Eat Me, Drink Me" or "The Golden Age of Grotesque", the album sounds like Manson is finding his footing in the post-triptych era. [...] The only parallel I can draw to "Antichrist Superstar" is that they both welcomed in a new era with a heavy, hard around the edges style where you knew something big was about to begin. [...] Another parallel I can draw [...] is to "Holy Wood" when regarding Twiggy's bass. [...] Twiggy gets several chances to shine on the songs I heard which were very bass heavy. [...] On Manson's front, the wear and tear on his voice is still audibly present, but less apparent than on "Eat Me, Drink Me". [...] It's a little hard to pay attention to lyrics when the music is this fast, but I did spot the re-emergence of Manson's wordplay and a general 'fuck you' tone. His vocals sound raw again, this time due to age, but they compliment the music perfectly."

In a March interview with Kerrang!, Manson revealed that The High End of Low contains 15 songs, "15" being its closing track. He was also adamant that the fourteenth track is a "glorious epic" which Twiggy Ramirez will be most memorable for as a guitarist. Manson also explained that the songs on the album are listed by the order they were written and recorded. He also revealed the title of another song, "We're from America", which was made available for free download through the band's website on March 27, 2009.

The fourth photograph released by the band to promote The High End of Low, which was revealed shortly after to essentially be the album's cover art.

On March 27, 2009, Metal Hammer released a blog describing two songs from The High End of Low, "Arma-goddamn-motherfuckin-geddon" and the previously unverified track "The Wow" (actually titled "WOW").[1] Later on April 7, 2009, Metal Hammer confirmed the titles of three new songs, "Blank and White", "Running to the Edge of the World" and "White Spider" (actually titled "Wight Spider").[2] The report also confirmed the leaked song "maybeharmfulifswallowed" has since been retitled "Leave a Scar".

On April 16, 2009, MarilynManson.com was updated to include the track listing for The High End of Low, thus revealing three previously unreleased song titles: "Pretty as a Swastika", "Unkillable Monster" and "I Have to Look Up Just to See Hell". A splash page was also added to the website, depicting Manson holding a bundle of fluorescent lights against his head. According to Rudy Coby, this photograph will be used as the record's cover art. What appears to be the official logos for both the band and album appear on this page as well. On April 27, the track listing for the deluxe edition of the album's bonus disc surfaced on HMV's website, revealing that the disc will contain seven remixes.

Release date

The album was originally scheduled for release in October 2008, although due to touring commitments this date was pushed back to winter 2008, before a more recent slating in May 2009 was establishing. Initially Manson also intended to release a song from the album before the end of 2008, however these plans did not materialize. A North American release of May 26, 2009 has been confirmed, the band's official German website has reported a May 22 release in the region, and Tower Records has slated the album's release date in Japan as May 13, 2009. On April 3, Polydor Records announced a release date of May 25, 2009 in France, and that a special edition of the album will be packaged with a bonus disc. This deluxe pressing of the album, also scheduled for release on May 26, will contain the 15 songs of the standard album, as well as six bonus tracks, one of which is a remix of "Arma-goddamn-motherfuckin-geddon" by Teddybears.[3] Pre-orders for both the standard and deluxe editions of the album through Marilyn Manson's official merchandiser began on April 25, 2009.

Promoting The High End of Low was a free download of the song "We're from America". This was followed by the song's reissue as a digital single on April 7, and its limited release as a physical single on April 14. The album's first conventional single, "Arma-goddamn-motherfuckin-geddon", entered airplay on April 13, and will be released in CD format on May 15 in Germany and on May 18 in the United Kingdom. The song's music video, filmed between April 4 and 5, is expected to premier around May 5, according to Universal Music.

Track listing

  1. "Devour"
  2. "Pretty as a Swastika"
  3. "Leave a Scar"
  4. "Four Rusted Horses"
  5. "Arma-goddamn-motherfuckin-geddon"
  6. "Blank and White"
  7. "Running to the Edge of the World"
  8. "I Want to Kill You Like They Do in the Movies"
  9. "WOW"
  10. "Wight Spider"
  11. "Unkillable Monster"
  12. "We're from America"
  13. "I Have to Look Up Just to See Hell"
  14. "Into the Fire"
  15. "15"

Deluxe edition bonus disc

  1. "Arma-goddamn-motherfuckin-geddon" (Teddybears Remix)
  2. "Leave a Scar" (Alternate Version)
  3. "Running to the Edge of the World" (Alternate Version)
  4. "Wight Spider" (Alternate Version)
  5. "Four Rusted Horses" (Opening Titles Version)
  6. "I Have to Look Up Just to See Hell" (Alternate Version)
  7. "Into the Fire" (Alternate Version) (Japan bonus track)

Trivia

Comparison of the logos for the Criterion Edition of Tengoku to jigoku, called High and Low (top), and The High End of Low (bottom).
  • The logo for The High End of Low appears to be based on the English logo for The Criterion Edition of the film Tengoku to jigoku, which translates to Heaven and Hell, a lyrical theme in "Four Rusted Horses".
  • The High End of Low is the first studio album by Marilyn Manson since their major label debut, Portrait of an American Family, not to feature a title track. Worth noting is the following compilation, 1995's Smells Like Children, which also did not have a title track, however the title of this release was lifted from an unrecorded song of the same name.
  • The High End of Low runs rampant with references to the number 15, a first since 1998's Mechanical Animals. These references include the album having 15 songs, the last of which is titled "15", the number 15 spanning across the MM logo on the back of the "We're from America" single, the fact there are 15 letters in the album's title, and that The High End of Low will be released roughly 15 years after the band's major label debut, Portrait of an American Family.

Release history

Region Date Label Format Catalog
Japan May 20, 2009 Universal International Compact disc, deluxe edition
Germany May 22, 2009 Polydor Records Compact disc
France May 25, 2009 Polydor Records Compact disc
United Kingdom May 25, 2009 Polydor Records Compact disc, deluxe edition
North America May 26, 2009 Interscope Records Compact disc, deluxe edition

Personnel

References

  1. Marilyn Manson New Tracks Previewed. Metal Hammer. March 27, 2009.
  2. Marilyn Manson 'High End Of Low' Album Track-By-Track. Metal Hammer. April 7, 2009.
  3. Goddamn Deluxe Editions. The PRP. April 21, 2009.