Born Villain

Untitled

Born Villain is the eighth full-length studio album by American rock band, Marilyn Manson. It was released on May 1, 2012 by Cooking Vinyl Records and Manson's own vanity label Hell, etc. Interviews with the band's frontman described that the record would be in a heavier tone than that of previous works, describing the sound as a "suicide death metal" style.

In November 2010, Twiggy Ramirez was quoted as saying "We've got a new album [that we're working on]. It's almost done. It'll probably be out next year. [...] It's our best record yet, I think. I mean, everyone always says that, but I think this is our best work so far... It's kind of like a little more of a punk rock Mechanical Animals without sounding too pretentious." It is Marilyn Manson's first album to be released via Cooking Vinyl.

The album's lead single, "No Reflection", received its first airplay on March 7, 2012 on KROQ Los Angeles. It was released in digital format on March 13, 2012 through Cooking Vinyl and Hell, etc., over a month ahead of the album's release. The single was also released in physical format on April 21, 2012 as a limited-edition white vinyl, available only in the UK and Europe in celebration of Record Store Day. A music video directed by Lukas Ettlin was released to promote the single, and also features Roxane Mesquida. The music video premiered on April 4, 2012 on Marilyn Manson's VEVO channel.

Background

Born Villain entered the writing phase during "The High End of Low Tour" in 2009. On December 3, 2010, it was announced that Marilyn Manson had parted ways with long-time label Interscope Records, stating "we've even started writing new songs on the road, so I think people can expect a new record a lot sooner than [you think]." It was also announced that special one-off concerts were in development for the near future. These performances would see each album from the Triptych (Holy Wood, Mechanical Animals and Antichrist Superstar) being played in their entirety over three different nights in the one venue. The tour would take him throughout the United States and "a few select dates in Europe."

On February 24, 2011, the band's longtime drummer Ginger Fish announced his resignation from the group, promoting a search for a replacement. On September 2, 2011, the album was officially titled Born Villain.

Production and development

"We will always be our worst audience, until we stop being an audience and start being an artist. Any art is flesh and blood, no matter how you perform, decorate or display it. But we all want the passionate horror of that blood. And blood is what I am here to bring."

—Marilyn Manson, describing his intentions during the album's early development.

The prospect of an eighth studio album by the band was first confirmed by the frontman himself during an interview with Metal Hammer on December 3, 2009. He elaborated, "We've just been released from our record contract with Interscope so I think a lot of the creative control on which my hands were tied on a lot of choices—the music videos—things like that. And the first example is the newest video, they clearly wouldn't have allowed me to make that video. So we started writing new songs on the road—a bit like [David Bowie's album] Aladdin Sane—I think people can expect a new record a lot sooner than we [expected]." On January 24, 2010, Manson confirmed on the band's official MySpace profile that "the new album is officially in motion." In April 2010, Manson confirmed during his appearance at the Revolver Golden Gods Awards that the band had recorded 13 songs, one of which failed to appear in a television series about vampires. He also mentioned the album in an interview with Full Metal Jackie, where he stated that "the album is halfway finished".

Book and film

Born Villain, a short film directed by actor Shia LaBeouf, was a promotional "trailer" released concomitantly for the then-upcoming album. The idea for the film originated after Manson and LaBeouf struck up a friendship at a concert of The Kills. The actor, who "has always been intrigued" with the singer, then offered to direct his next music video. In order to convince him, LaBeouf gave Manson a screening of Maniac — his directorial collaboration with American rappers Kid Cudi and Cage. Impressed, Manson commissioned the aspiring director to create a "making-of" video documenting the album's recording and production.

Manson and LaBeouf produced the film throughout July 2011. The film borrows a variety of "very intense, graphic imagery" from a number of sources including Alejandro Jodorowsky's 1973 film The Holy Mountain, Buñuel and Dalí's 1929 short film Un Chien Andalou, Shakespeare and theology. LaBeouf explained that "we tried to make Manson's 'Un Chien Andalou' macabre 'Macbeth' — that's sort of what that became." Manson, for his part, described his intention with the film as "both an homage and a mockery of the history of Cinema." The following month, the film's website announced the project's August 28, 2011, inaugural screening at the L.A. Silent Theater. Drummer Chris Vrenna has claimed that Born Villain is not a music video but "a full thing". He also mentioned that the film contain short clips of the album and its own score.

A coffee table book of photographs, titled Campaign, was also attached to the project. Released alongside the film by LaBeouf's Grassy Slope Entertainment production company through various retailers, the book contains images of Los Angeles taken by LaBeouf and his girlfriend, Karolyn Pho, during a night traversing the city with Manson. A DVD of Born Villain is also included with the book.

LaBeouf and Pho took an unconventional approach to promoting the project by vandalizing various locations in the city with handbills of the book and film's promotional posters. Simultaneously, the book was made available for pre-order and served as a "ticket" to an in-store book signing with LaBeouf and Manson as well as a private screening of the film at bookstore Hennessey & Ingalls' Hollywood outlet on September 1, 2011.

Music and lyrics

Musical style

Marilyn Manson attests that the lyrical content of the album will be "more romantic" yet "self-abusive." Manson also referred to the album as "very death metal," voicing interest in releasing the album differently than previous Marilyn Manson records, and also citing his friendship with Slayer as a vague influence on the record. On May 7, 2010, both entertainer Rudy Coby and New York-based artist Nick Kushner were previewed material from the album, the latter describing it on Facebook as "fuckin' hardcore." Elaborating on the band's musical direction, Manson commented on Twiggy being influenced by his touring experiences in 2009, particularly during the Rockstar Mayhem Festival. On September 10, Manson and Ramirez attended the opening of Kushner's art exhibit at the Studio Servitu gallery in Downtown Los Angeles where, at Kushner's behest, Manson quickly turned the show into an impromptu listening party of the entire album for attendees. Alternative newspaper LA Weekly attended the event and confirmed a release date now set for 2012. They also gave first impressions of the new music, describing it as "arty, dramatic, salacious, depraved" and "classic Manson". They further noted the presence of slower tempo songs, and a track with "a super catchy chorus that could do the K-ROQ rounds." Manson himself explained that "[t]he new record put simply has the ambition and determination of how I started making music in the first place. It sounds like the first record in that it's not afraid to do anything. I had to remove myself from my lifestyle and start fresh."

Inspiration

In a March 2012 interview with Revolver magazine, Manson described the album as "[not] really sound[ing] like any of my old records. In fact it sort of sounds like what I listened to before I made records, (Killing Joke, Joy Division, Revolting Cocks, Bauhaus, Birthday Party)... It's very rhythm-driven. It's actually very bluesy. It's the first record where I repeat verses. I just sing the words in a different key, the next time. I've never done that before, because I've always felt like I needed to write a lot of words in the past … I think this will probably be the grandest concept record of all." "[Born Villain] felt like making a first record because I went in with only ambition and only the confidence and determination to impress people that heard it for the first time," he says. "Knowing that there might be people that have never heard my music and without being arrogant or ignorant knowing that they’ve heard it already."

In an interview with Loudwire, April 2012, Marilyn Manson said about the album:

Restriction creates the desire to have the necessity or the determination or confidence to deal with your situation. It's like a zombie movie, it's like being in prison, it's being stuck with one choice, survival. That's what this record is. I was given a choice. When I started making this record, I decided that I didn't like who I was. I didn't want to be who I used to be. I wanted to be who I knew I could be, and that's an evolving process. But the whole key to it is that if you stagnate, if you become something that no longer transforms, there's nothing that's inspirational about it. Whether it's nature and you see a peacock, or whatever it is, you pick who you're going to be in life and you need to be confident about it and stick with your gut instinct and don't waiver. It took me completely stripping my life away, moving into a place with black floors and white walls, putting all my things in storage and just taking my movies, my instruments, my cats and realizing, "I don't need anything else. All I need to do is fill this [room] full of something." I'm trying to take things back to the beginning. I was not calculating that way, I simply needed to realize that this is life. I needed to realize what I wanted out of life. I suddenly realized that I was the one who sat and drew my first flyer. I went to Kinko's, I printed it out, I put it on cars myself personally and I didn't have any songs at the time. With this record, I'll always remember more than any others. They weren't happy memories all the time. Everything has to be ups and downs or you're not an artist. If everything is happy, then who gives a shit, or if it's just a straight line, I won't give a shit either. If it's down, which is sometimes where I was more often than up, it's not inspiring. So I just wanted to make something that would make people feel something. I was playing it to people that were my friends. Some of them never heard my music before, never liked my music, whatever the situation was… but it's a challenge and I love a challenge. I had forgotten how much I love a challenge.

Lyrical content

In a recent interview with Loudwire, Marilyn Manson said about the lyrics of the songs:

I feel like I did get to a point on my previous two records, not that I'm discrediting the music that I did or hating it or anything of that nature, I just feel that I started to change the way that I wrote because I wanted to open up. I was in a place where I could not figure out how to deal with being me. Me the person, not me as Marilyn Manson. Sometimes you don't know how the fuck to be yourself, because you're too confused by the circumstances you're in. Everyone goes through that (...) I realized that I started writing songs to make people feel how I felt, rather than just making them feel something. That's not the way I should do things. Especially because I felt shity making those records. So I was basically making music to make people feel shitier, which in a sense with my sarcasm would be funny, but that wasn't my intention. If I was doing that on purpose... There are parts of this new record where I want people to feel shity, where I use sounds that only dogs can hear that humans can't hear that actually make you nauseous inside, just because I was looking to meddle with people's reactions, but much more orchestrated from a directors point of view, as someone who wanted to tell a story, who wanted to tell people something that they would feel a reaction from.

Release and promotion

File:Marilyn Manson eight studio album logo.png

Unveiled on May 22, 2011, the new CMYK-styled logo is used by the band to signify the eighth studio album and their new era.

The album is the band's first since the expiration of their contract with Interscope Records in late 2009. The album is set to be released in May 2012, according to LA Weekly. For much of the early half of 2011, Marilyn Manson removed himself from the public spotlight and ceased almost all communication with his fans or the outside world.

On May 22, 2011, the band's website underwent a complete overhaul. A short 26 second snippet of a new song, tentatively titled, "I am among no one (excerpt from an undisclosed song with an unreleased title)" was uploaded to the redesigned main page along with a new logo to signify their eighth studio album and the new era. The logo consisted of the letter M repeated four times in a spiral pattern, each with one long tail. At the end of the long tail is the Chinese trigram ☲ (離 lí) of the I Ching. Read lengthwise or up-and-down, it formed Hexagram 30, "Radiance," also called "the clinging" and "the net". The origin of the character is rooted in symbols of long-tailed birds such as the peacock or the legendary phoenix. The CMYK coloring was also notable with regard to an acrostic formed by Manson, in a journal entry that accompanied the site changes, which spelled out the words "Christianity Manufactures Yesterdays Killers". On June 2011, Manson appeared live via the Ustream broadcast of Fleischer's Universe directed by Victor Borachuk where he announced that the new album title will be revealed "within a week". He also divulged the lyrics, "The center of the universe cannot exist without edges", of a yet to be released song. In December 2010, Marilyn Manson held a photo shoot session that leaked onto the Internet in early 2011.

Marilyn Manson performed live at the Revolver Golden Gods Awards on 11 April, 2012, with actor and guitarist Johnny Depp joining the band on stage for performances of "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" and "The Beautiful People".

Artwork

Dean Karr shot the artwork for the album, having previously worked with Manson on Antichrist Superstar and Lest We Forget cover artwork. Karr also served as the photographer for a Revolver magazine cover featuring the lead singer. On March 16, 2012, Steven Coy confirmed through his Facebook page that the artwork was being finalized. Six days later on March 22, the cover art for Born Villain appeared on Amazon, before going into heavy rotation on other retailer websites, as well as on the band's own Facebook page and official website. Dean Karr has confirmed that his photography work was not chosen to serve as the album cover, and that the chosen image was taken by another photographer.

Singles

On February 9, 2012, Marilyn Manson confirmed on The Alan Cox Show that the first single of the album would be "No Reflection". Details were sketchy, with Manson only stating that the single would be "coming soon". Manson also told The Alan Cox Show host that he would be starting work on a music video for "No Reflection" the following week. A few weeks later on March 6, the single artwork and a release date of March 20 were announced via Amazon. The song quickly made its debut on the radio station KROQ before spreading all over the Internet. Shortly before the song aired, Manson encouraged his fans to tune in via his Twitter feed.

Reception

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
allmusic
Billboard	(positive)
Gigwise
The Independent
Kerrang!
Loudwire
NME	(6/10)
Noise Shaft	(9.0/10)
Ottawa Sun
Virgin Media

Upon its release, the album met with generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 64, based on 6 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Darryl Sterdan of the Ottawa Sun gave the album itself a positive review and said: "Just when you thought it was safe to write off Manson, he rises again like the slasher-flick anti-hero he deserves to be. The shock rocker’s eighth album finds him musing about destructive love, pondering his humanity and quoting Macbeth, while riding a downward spiral of slow-grinding goth-metal and glam-slam." GyZ of Noise Shaft was "especially impressed with the impertinently flawless production values of Born Villain. The album packs an exceptionally superb and well defined bite and there is exactly zero mud or fuzz or threshold-crossing to be heard." Gary Graff of Billboard noted that the album "finds a seemingly refreshed and clear-minded Manson and his band poring through a diverse set of moods and styles in songs that cut a little deeper than the deliberate provocation of many of his previous works. The raw and often stripped-down set is built on sophisticated dynamics, while references to the Stooges ("The Gardener"), glam rock ("Slo-Mo-Tion") and even blues ("Lay Down Your Goddamn Arms") accent the pulsing industrial undercurrent and foreboding spookiness that are Manson's stock in trade." Kerrang! reviewer Tom Bryant praised album closer and ballad "Breaking the Same Old Ground" as "the most emotional note of the record. Against slow rich swathes of synth, Manson delivers tender melody, finding pathos and feeling with it. For a man who's spent so long appearing not to be human, the deliverance of naked soul makes for a nice twist. Perhaps this should be where his future lies?" Kill Hipsters noted in particular the "insanely good bass lines, bordering along post-punk/punk-rock in some parts", and considered Born Villain as overall "one hell of a comeback album for a guy everyone thought was well and truly dead and gone. In true Marilyn Manson style he’s managed to resurrect a dead career and get people to start paying attention to his music again (even if not in the same way people used to). It sounds like Manson still has some gas in the tank". Matthew Horton of Virgin Media saw the album as "a new, snarly step forward, bristling with a vitality that Manson has no right to still have in his locker this far down the line. He attributes this to a reconnection with his early favourite bands, the likes of Killing Joke and Nick Cave's The Birthday Party, but it's far fresher than its goth forebears". Fred Thomas of allmusic commended the record as "valiant and exciting an effort as the group has come up with in years. While not reaching the dizzying heights of Marilyn Manson's early material, it suggests a band getting its legs back after a long period out to sea, and could lead the way to even brighter future wickedness". British newspaper The Independent gave the album a positive review commenting: "On the first listen, you notice references to Shakespeare, Baudelaire and the Greek myths. Say what you like about Marilyn Manson: you don't get that stuff from Slipknot. Since standing down – or being stood down – as a lightning rod for moral panic, Manson has been free to pursue his artistic vision unhindered. Frustratingly, over the past two albums, he's failed to exploit that freedom. Until now. [...] [It] features some of his finest lyrics yet and, musically, it often approaches the heyday of Holy Wood and Mechanical Animals. It is, then, something approaching the "stunning return to form" of rock-crit cliché".

The Arts Desk were more critical stating that Born Villain is "business as usual" but noted "a certain unexpected funk in the rhythm section. Accompanied by long term co-songwriting wingman and guitarist Twiggy Ramirez, Manson comes up with tasty intro riffs, flecked with electronic effects. In fact, most of the songs start with a real groove, but then the stentorian metal hammering takes over. [...] However, there are exceptions, notably the enjoyable glam stomp of “Pistol Whipped” and “Flowers of Evil” which has a smashing punk tune and comes on like Patricia Morrison-era Sisters of Mercy. As a general rule, when the singer is adopting his strangled David Bowie imitation and the bass is leading, all is well, but when he steps into death metal growling and the bludgeoning guitars arrive, things grow more predictable". Stephen Dalton of The National deemed Born Villain as "a respectable career fightback, full of crunchy riffs and punchy vocals, but not quite the knockout blow needed to regain his title as the world heavyweight champion of shock rock". Writing for NME, Hamish MacBain admitted there is "just a lack of magic, a lack of something special going on. It’s not bad. It’s not good. It’s just... Well, look, the thing is, for a guy whose whole raison d’etre is American Psycho-esque dark comedy/shock horror, getting shrugs and six out of 10 – defined as "better than average" – is not really what it’s all about. It should be zeroes and tens. But musically, it just ain’t". British magazine Rock Sound were left unconvinced admitting "a core essence of Manson is definitely there throughout, with his sadistic calls and menacing tones occasionally making themselves known, but all too often it comes across as both lethargic and lacking". They close their review by calling Born Villain a "disappointing, disjointed return".

Commercial performance

The album debuted at #10 on the Billboard 200, with first week sales of over 39,000 copies, while in the United Kingdom it peaked at #14 – five places higher than previous album The High End of Low – selling almost 7,000 copies in its first week on the chart. The album also sold 5,825 copies on its first week to debut at #18 on the Japanese Oricon album chart.

Hey Cruel World... Tour

Main article: Hey Cruel World... Tour

To support the release of the album, the band staged their thirteenth tour, titled Hey Cruel World... Tour. It is their ninth tour to spread over multiple legs spanning over multiple countries. Rumors about the tour's itinerary began as early as June 3, 2011, when the Brazilian edition of the Portuguese broadsheet newspaper Destak published that agents for the band had finalized negotiations for the group to tour in Brazil and other South American countries as part of the SWU Music & Arts Festival in November 2011. Despite this, the band's supposed inclusion in the roster failed to materialize. The tour's 2012 itinerary was confirmed on October 2011 to include an Australian leg from late February to early March as part of the 5-day 2012 Soundwave music festival. After the Australian leg the tour will continue in Asia, North America and Europe. The tour includes Manson's first performances in the United States since mid-2009.

Manson announced the tour's title on his official website's journal a week before the tour began.

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Manson

No.	Title	Music	Length
1.	"Hey, Cruel World..."	Twiggy, Vrenna	3:44
2.	"No Reflection"	Manson, Twiggy, Vrenna	4:36
3.	"Pistol Whipped"	Manson	4:10
4.	"Overneath the Path of Misery"	Manson, Twiggy, Vrenna	5:18
5.	"Slo-Mo-Tion"	Manson, Sablan, Twiggy, Vrenna	4:24
6.	"The Gardener"	Twiggy, Vrenna	4:39
7.	"The Flowers of Evil"	Twiggy, Vrenna	5:19
8.	"Children of Cain"	Manson	5:17
9.	"Disengaged"	Manson	3:25
10.	"Lay Down Your Goddamn Arms"	Twiggy, Vrenna	4:13
11.	"Murderers Are Getting Prettier Every Day"	Twiggy, Vrenna	4:18
12.	"Born Villain"	Manson, Twiggy, Vrenna	5:26
13.	"Breaking the Same Old Ground"	Twiggy, Vrenna	4:27
Total length:			59:23

Bonus track

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
14.	"You're So Vain" (featuring Johnny Depp)	Carly Simon	4:02
Total length:			63:25

Credits and personnel

Marilyn Manson

• Marilyn Manson – vocals, lyrics, guitars, production, engineering, art direction, design
• Twiggy – guitars, bass guitar, keyboards
• Chris Vrenna – keyboards, synthesizers, programming, percussion, engineering
• Fred Sablan – bass guitar, guitars
• Jason Sutter – live drums on the tour for Born Villain, drums (14)

Production

• Sean Beavan – mixing (at the Blue Room)
• Tom Baker – mastering (at Precision Mastering)
• Mike Riley – engineering

Charts

Chart (2012)	Peak position
Australian Albums Chart	16
Austrian Albums Chart	4
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)	32
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)	15
Canadian Albums Chart	8
Croatian Albums Chart	30
Czech Albums Chart	30
Danish Albums Chart	23
Dutch Albums Chart	27
Finnish Albums Chart	18
French Albums Chart	8
German Albums Chart	5
Irish Albums Chart	38
Italian Albums Chart	11
Japanese Albums Chart	18
Mexican Albums Chart	33
New Zealand Albums Chart	19
Norwegian Albums Chart	24
Polish Albums Chart	18
Portuguese Albums Chart	29
Russian Albums Chart	25
Scottish Albums Chart	17
Spanish Albums Chart	28
Swedish Albums Chart	21
Swiss Albums Chart	2
UK Albums Chart	14
UK Rock Albums Chart	1
US Billboard 200	10
US Rock Albums	3
US Independent Albums	1
US Alternative Albums	2
US Hard Rock Albums	1

Release history

Region	Date	Label	Format	Catalog
Japan	April 25, 2012	Victor Entertainment	CD	VICP65058
Germany	April 27, 2012	Universal Records	CD	B007JPE14K
Worldwide	April 30, 2012	Cooking Vinyl Records	2LP Vinyl CD	B007KL8WAM B007KIZ6IG
United Kingdom	April 30, 2012	Cooking Vinyl Records	CD	COOKCD554
Canada	May 1, 2012	Dine Alone Records	—	—
USA	May 1, 2012	Cooking Vinyl Records	2LP Vinyl CD	B007KL8WAM B007KIZ6IG
Australia	May 4, 2012	Cooking Vinyl Records	CD	CTX666CD

References

Footnotes

External links

• Official website of the Born Villain film
• Official website of Campaign