One Assassination Under God — Chapter 1 by Marilyn Manson | Album Review

America’s shock rocker signals his return to music

Listen: Apple Music | Spotify

Shock rocker Marilyn Manson returns to the spotlight following 2020’s We Are Chaos with One Assassination Under God — Chapter 1. His first release in 4 years, as well as his first project since signing to Nuclear Blast. To recall, the musician came under public scrutiny following a laundry list of sexual assault allegations thrown in his way in the last few years. He once again, became public enemy number one, was dropped from his former label Lorna Vista and escaped to the shadows to deal with proceeding lawsuits and legal battles.

At the time of writing, it seems that Manson and his legal team have dropped his defamations suit against Evan Rachel Wood, as he aims to move past it. Why is all this information relevant to this new album? Well, One Assassination Under God feels like Manson’s response to everything he’s endured in the last few years. He reclaims his knack for industrial rock while using each track to illustrate his thoughts of feeling betrayed by those around him. A controversial move from Manson, but as an artist whose career has been built around pissing off society with his commentary, it’s an unsurprising one to say the least.

Working with producer Tyler Bates for the first time since 2017’s Heaven Upside Down proved to be quite beneficial, as the instrumentals of One Assassination sound incredible. There’s a sense of revigorated energy that’s felt throughout the whole album, such as the chugging guitar riffs that embody “Raise The Red Flag” or the rock n roll vibes of “Nod If You Understand”. I’d argue this is the closest thing to the heavy metal genre Manson has given us in quite some time.

This also applies to Manson’s delivery on One Assassination, he sounds very much alive this time around as he croons with a devilish tone on “As Sick As The Secrets Within”, or his deepened vocals on the chorus of “Sacrilegious”. The latter song in particularly will evoke memories of his performance on older works off of Mechanical Animals, merely adding to the song’s retro nature. The rest of the album is laser focused on creating a gothic atmosphere, and it’s here that the album’s production really clicks. “No Funeral Without Applause” for example has this driving bassline and droning guitars that gives the song an eeriness to it.

Lyrically though, is where I have a lot of personal contentions with One Assassination. Like most reviews, I always aim to be as objective as possible and remove any biases I have with the artist(s). With Manson however, considering the severity of his issues in recent years, I couldn’t help but feel conflicted as I listened to the album. On one hand, he does a fair job at reclaiming his strength. On the other, His verses and words can’t help but make me question his validity and his honesty. This is where my faults with the album lie, as I feel like the entire thing plays out as a “woe is me, everybody wronged me” type of situation.

He uses several songs to allude to his disdain with society and the people that essentially left him for dead, as on the opener “One Assassination Under God”:(“Everybody showed up for the execution, but nobody would show their face.”). A clear shot at they way the world cancelled Manson, even going back as far as his early beginnings. As a martyr for controversy, the one people point their fingers to, is a common Manson topic and he delves into it on “Nod If You Understand”. His rage and apathy courses through as he pulls you in and shouts: (“Look at yourself. For someone to blame, you’re the only one who should be ashamed.”).

The main idea here is Manson is clearly putting the blame on his accusers, and cutting off ties with those who went against him. He makes his point clear like on the pre-chorus of “Raise The Red Flag”: (“I don’t give a fuck if you say you’rе sorry, I won’t accept your surrender.”). With tracks like “Death Is Not A Costume”, he paints himself as a victim as he croons over his character assassination. Meanwhile “Meet Me In Purgatory” sees Manson ask his audience whether or not they still have his back, similar to Kendrick Lamar’s “Mortal Man” where he asked listeners: “If shit hits the fan, is you still a fan?”

One Assassination ends with the haunting “Sacrifice Of The Masses”. Over the acoustic guitars and dark piano keys, Manson accepts his “death”. Whether it’s his physical death or the demise of the character we know as Marilyn Manson is debatable. He references his status as an icon and the impact his downfall can have: (“The greater the star, the more violent its demise.”) while using a lot of funeral symbolism and imagery. It’s a dark ending to an equally dark album, and I’m not sure how the Chapter 2 will pick up the pieces.

This was one of the hardest album reviews I’ve had to write in some time, mainly from a moral standpoint. Admittedly, I am (and to an extent, still am) a Marilyn Manson fan. I enjoy his music, however, in light of recent events stemming from his S.A. allegations and the ensuing legal battles, I do find it hard to separate the art from the artist. When you have an album such as One Assassination Under God — Chapter 1 that is clearly influenced by said allegations and could be seen as a response to them, it makes that separation even harder.

Looking at the positives, One Assassination has some great production, again, probably the best instrumentals Manson has used in quite some time. Performance wise he does sound a lot better than he did in previous efforts, like there’s some life in Manson for once. But the lyrical content is still something I find problematic, and depending on where you stand as a Marilyn Manson fan, its going to greatly affect how you appreciate this album.

I’m giving One Assassination Under God — Chapter 1 a 6.5 out of 10. It’s a short lived revival for Manson and will more than likely kick off a new artistic era for him. Again, how the masses are going to welcome him back is up in the air. But One Assassination is proof that Marilyn Manson, no matter how many times he gets shot down, will always get back up. Regardless if we like it or not.

Final Rating: 6.5/10

Favourite Tracks: One Assassination Under God, Nod If You Understand, As Sick As The Secrets Within, Death Is Not A Costume.