Triptych

The Triptych comprises three records Marilyn Manson released between 1996 and 2000: 1996's Antichrist Superstar, 1998's Mechanical Animals and 2000's Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death). Each album represents some semi-autobiographical aspect of Manson himself, and although made up of three records, it is considered one body of work by Manson and the fanbase.

Disclaimer

While the plot of the Triptych is often dissected and discussed by fans, it should be noted that little has been explained by the band and even that must be taken with a grain of salt. For example, Manson had initially conceived Mechanical Animals as a sequel to Antichrist Superstar, following The Worm after its fall from power. However, when Holy Wood was released the story was now to be read in an inversed order and suddenly Mechanical Animals was a prequel to Antichrist Superstar rather than its sequel. This shows that the actual story was not conceived linearly and ideas that initially represented or referred to one thing, may now have a meaning entirely different from that which was originally intended.

The only official text on the matter, the Holy Wood Novel, remains unreleased and all other writings are pure fan speculation and conjecture. Some theorize that the three albums present a linear storyline with one character growing and transforming throughout. Others take the "triptych" term literally and interpret the albums as three separate stories that happen simultaneously to three separate characters, possibly in three separate worlds. More ambitious theories feel that Manson writes one continuous storyline throughout all his works and attempt to integrate ideas from other albums and EPs such as The Golden Age of Grotesque and Smells Like Children for example.

The theories are many, and can range from broad to detailed and from outlandish to logical. The only element they all have in common is that none are official. The official story has yet to be explained outright by Marilyn Manson (the man or the band). Even if it were to be explained now, Manson's personal perception of the story may have changed (just as it changed when he decided that the albums were no longer a linear duology but an inversed triptych) and an explanation entirely different from the original intent may be given.

In summary: when reading theories on the plot of the "triptych" keep in mind that it is all fan speculation and nothing more.

Plot

The Triptych's most commonly accepted timeline begins with Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death), Mechanical Animals, and finally Antichrist Superstar, reversed from the actual release order of each album. However, each album's interpretation is debatable, and far more so when interpreted as a whole story.

In Holy Wood the character is Adam Kadmon, a rebel from the Valley of Death, which is essentially a dwelling of society's outcasts. He leads a revolution against Holy Wood, which is populated by the rich and famous and powerful, who oppress the Valley of Death, and ruled by the corrupt President White and his daughter Coma White . His revolution is a bitter sweet success in that while he does eradicate Holy Wood, this results in the disenfranchised becoming the mainstream and the status quo. This newfound power and glory proceeds to erode them of their original guiding principles, turning them into the same superficial, back-stabbing and sycophantic monsters as the previous denizens of Holy Wood. All of this leads to Adam playing Russian Roulette at the end of Count to Six and Die with his fate left unknown.

Mechanical Animals then follows the sojourn of two characters, the protagonist now with a new name but within the triptych the same character as Adam: Omēga - a Ziggy Stardust-like rock star and alien who is decadent and sexually androgynous. Another lesser character (or, perhaps, foil) on the album is Alpha who is a facet of Manson. As a rock star, Omēga becomes increasingly addicted to drugs, emotionally dissociated and nihilistic. All the while he is in constant search of a girl named Coma White, though is no longer certain if she is real or simply a drug induced hallucination. His internal thoughts show how disassociated he is from the real world while all of his rock anthems are simply hollow. At the climax of the album in Untitled, he comes to terms with his life and seems ready to make a choice but whether that choice is to change his life or end it is unclear.

Finally, Antichrist Superstar follows the abused and trampled being "The Worm" who, like Adam Kadmon, attempts to lead a massive revolution against the world of the oppressed and its kratocratic masters "The Beautiful People". In this respect, the revolution plot line may also be seen as a retrospective of his journey up to that point. In his book The Long Hard Road Out of Hell, Manson likens the Worm to "an insignificant shadow looking for his place in an infinite world of light". In his quest to self-empowerment, he fashions himself into a charismatic and influential anti-hero and hierophant, the "Little Horn", proselytizing self-realization which is met with adoration and blandishment by the people. Though he is successful overthrowing The Beautiful People, the Little Horn soon sinks into an apathy then hatred for those very adoring and sycophantic disciples along with the world when he comes to the realization that they aren't interested in being saved and quite content to remain weak, imitative and oppressed "victims" (Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's 'slaves' in his Master-Slave theory). His message then is frustrated and futile. This failure leaves him cold and bitter, determining to use his power and influence instead to become a repressive and fascist tyrant, the eponymous "Antichrist Superstar" (or alternatively, "The Disintegrator"), as he now concludes that what the people truly desire is a master-slave dynamic. He also begins to adopt as his personal insignia the oppressive epithet of his precursors "When you are suffering, know that I have betrayed you" as he lets his vitriol spiral into nihilism and self-destruction. Now the disconsolate "Man That You Fear", he embarks on a scorched earth policy of apocalypse, tearing down everything his revolution fought for, oppressing the very people he aimed to lift up and destroying everyone and everything around him declaring "pray your life was just a dream, the cut that never heals. The world in my hands, there's no one left to hear you scream. There's no one left for you". As he reduces the world he created to dust, he begins to understand that "when all of your wishes are granted, many of your dreams will be destroyed".

How these three plots link together, should it be linearly or separated is unknown and for the listener to decide. Manson himself, however, has offered up this possible explanation, "[Holy Wood is about] wanting to fit into a world that didn't want me, and fighting really hard to get there. [The album's deepest elements] are idealism and the desire to start a revolution. If you begin with Holy Wood, the Mechanical Animals really talks about how that revolution gets taken away from you and turned into a product, and then Antichrist Superstar is where you're given a choice to decide if you're going to be controlled by the power that you created or if you want to destroy yourself and then start over. It just becomes a cycle."

Tracklisting

The linear chronology of the triptych is the reversed order of Manson's albums, Holy Wood, Mechanical Animals, and Antichrist Superstar and is known to be cyclical, meaning that the storyline comes full circle with the completion of each album in the storyline.

A: In the Shadow

• "GodEatGod"
  
• "The Love Song"
  
• "The Fight Song"
  
• "Disposable Teens"
  
  

D: The Androgyne

• "Target Audience (Narcissus Narcosis)"
  
• "President Dead"
  
• "In the Shadow of the Valley of Death"
  
• "Cruci-Fiction in Space"
  
• "A Place in the Dirt"
  
  

A: Of Red Earth

• "The Nobodies"
  
• "The Death Song"
  
• "Lamb of God"
  
• "Born Again"
  
• "Burning Flag"
  
  

M: The Fallen

• "Coma Black"
  
• "Valentine's Day"
  
• "The Fall of Adam"
  
• "King Kill 33°"
  
• "Count to Six and Die (The Vacuum of Infinite Space Encompassing)"
  
  

Alpha Songs

• "Great Big White World"
  
• "Mechanical Animals"
  
• "Disassociative"
  
• "The Speed of Pain"
  
• "Posthuman"
  
• "The Last Day on Earth"
  
• "Coma White"
  
  

Omēga Songs

• "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"
  
  

Cycle I: The Heirophant

• "Irresponsible Hate Anthem"
  
• "The Beautiful People"
  
• "Dried Up, Tied and Dead to the World"
  
• "Tourniquet"
  
  

Cycle II: Inauguration of the Worm

• "Little Horn"
  
• "Cryptorchid"
  
• "Deformography"
  
• "Wormboy"
  
• "Mister Superstar"
  
• "Angel with the Scabbed Wings"
  
• "Kinderfeld"
  
  
• Cycle III: Disintegrator Rising
• "Antichrist Superstar"
  
• "1996"
  
• "Minute of Decay"
  
• "The Reflecting God"
  
• "Man That You Fear"
  
• "Track 99"
  
  

Trivia

• There are 51 total tracks in the Triptych. Just as the Triptych unfolds in reverse, 51 reversed is 15, which is a recurring number in the band's work.
• The three albums involved with the Triptych are considered Manson's magnum opus by most.

External links

• The Triptych at The Nachtkabarett.