Attempted comeback: Marilyn Manson released an album about his cancellation
On Friday, November 22, One Assassination Under God - Chapter 1, the first album by Marilyn Manson in four years, was released. And the first to be released after their leader, Marilyn Manson (Brian Warner), was hit by a wave of lawsuits and accusations of abuse, harassment and rape. Manson, by the way, does not confess to anything and even sued one of the victims for defamation. "Izvestia" familiarized with the album - and amazed by its intransigence and anger.
Waiting for the concert
On September 30, the Los Angeles Times ran an interesting piece entitled "Marilyn Manson Goes on Tour After Rape Accusations. Activists are furious." Journalist August Braun went to the Honda Center concert hall in Anaheim, where Marilyn Manson was the opening act (!) for the popular metal band Five Finger Death Punch.
On the approach to the Honda Center, Brown spotted two groups of activists and activists. Some were protesting the concert in person of band leader Marilyn Manson, while others gathered in support of the famous rocker. The reason for both the protests and support were the numerous accusations made by several women. The most notable of them were multiple Golden Globe and Emmy nominee, US actress Evan Rachel Wood and her British counterpart Esme Bianco. They accuse the rocker of multiple incidents of emotional and sexual abuse.
- It's just wild that Manson is touring like nothing happened and releasing a new album," activist Carolyn Heldman, who organized the protest before Manson's performance, told Brown. - This is blatant indulgence of an accused rapist. I've never seen profit so clearly prioritized over decency.
Influencer Kristen Lacefield, who dissects high-profile pop culture scandals on her YouTube channel Colonel Kurtz, organized the counter-protest and told Brown, "The allegations against Manson are a sham and a farce that has been going on for nearly four years. This man is not guilty of what he is accused of."
Chronology of the charges
In his piece, August Brown only briefly mentions Manson's music and concerts, but focuses mainly on the protests for and against the musician and the various accusations against him. This is understandable: the circumstances surrounding Manson's personal life have completely overshadowed his music in Western news and media space.
The saga with accusations against Manson has been going on for so long and has acquired so many details that it's almost impossible to summarize them without missing important details. But we're going to try anyway.
In 2021, Marilyn Manson's former fiancée and "Wild West World" star Evan Rachel Wood said she was abused by the musician in the past. Back in 2016, Wood gave an interview to Rolling Stone magazine stating that shewas raped twice, however, she did not name Manson at the time. In 2019, thanks to her efforts, California passed the Phoenix Act, which extends the statute of limitations on domestic violence cases to five years from the date of the sexual assault incident.
Evan Rachel Wood
Shortly after Wood's first statements openly referring to Manson, four other women came forward with accusations against the rocker. Manson called the allegations "horrible distortions of reality" and said all of his relationships were purely consensual. Nevertheless, at the height of the scandal , the musician's label Loma Vista Recordings, his agency and manager canceled their contracts with the musician.
Several civil lawsuits were filed against Manson. Among them stood out the cases of actress Esme Bianco and model Ashley Morgan Smithline. The musician's lawyers denied all the allegations, claiming they were fabricated. Manson's ex-wife model Dita Von Teese and his former lover actress Rose McGowan said that in relations with them Manson behaved correctly.
Esme Bianco and Marilyn Manson.
Some cases were dismissed due to procedural irregularities, while others were given the go-ahead by the courts. In January 2023, Manson reached a settlement agreement with Bianco, often seen by many as an implicit admission of partial guilt. Smithline later withdrew her accusations, saying that unnamed people had convinced her to perjure herself.
In February 2023, Manson filed a countersuit against Wood and her associate Ashley "Ilma" Gore. The lawsuit was related to the documentary series "Rise of the Phoenix," airing on HBO in March 2022. Manson accused Wood and Gore of forging documents (in particular - a fake letter from an alleged FBI employee), as well as stealing his identity. In addition, Manson's former lover, Greta Aurora, claimed that Wood and Gore tried to convince her to falsely accuse the musician of rape. The court dismissed the claims and ordered Manson to reimburse the defendants' legal costs.
In parallel, Manson reached a settlement with another woman, whose name was not disclosed for legal reasons. In 2024, a New York State judge gave the go-ahead to a lawsuit filed by Bianca Kyne, who accused Manson of molesting her in the 1990s, when Kyne was still a minor.
All the while, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department was conducting its own investigation into the allegations against the musician. In 2022, the case file was turned over to District Attorney George Gascón, but he declined to press charges, citing a lack of evidence. However, as early as October 2024, Gascón said he was considering new evidence, and Esme Bianco publicly accused the DA's office of mishandling the case.
Attempted murder
All of the circumstances surrounding the charges against Manson require a significant amount of his time and attention. In the worst case - which is quite possible, given the seriousness of the charges and the need to defend himself in courts in three states at once (in addition to California and New York, the state of Georgia is still involved in numerous lawsuits) - the musician faces years in prison.
So it's no surprise that Marilyn Manson's new album is mostly about the artist's reaction to the lawsuits and scandals. Titled One Assassination Under God - Chapter 1 (a paraphrase of the line "One Nation Under God" from the American Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag), it's filled with almost overt threats against the women who made the accusations, their lawyers and activists.
Interpreting some of the record's lyrics otherwise is difficult. "I don't care if you say you're sorry. / I won't accept your surrender. / It's time to deal with those who bully me. / And wash the target off my back. / My red flag is your white flag, but soaked in blood."
Revenge, however, is not the album's only theme. The standout song is As Sick As the Secrets Within, dedicated to alcohol and drugs - two vices that Manson, judging by his current appearance, has finally gotten rid of. But the basic message is clear: here I am, I'm still here, you can't beat me, and I'm still coming to spit on your graves.
Maximum attack
It's not just the lyrics that show that Manson has gone into attack mode. Musically, One Assassination Under God - Chapter 1 is Marilyn Manson's best album in a very long time. Possibly since Holy Wood (2000), on which the artist also defended himself against scandals at the time related to a high school tragedy. He was accused that the band's music caused teenagers to pick up guns and shoot those around them. Subsequently, Michael Moore symbolically inserted an interview with Manson into his movie Bowling for Columbine, calling for a ban on the sale of ammunition in stores.
Long gone is the extreme metal that made Manson popular in the 1990s. The experiments with electronica, industrial and old-regime gothic rock, in which Manson immersed himself throughout the 2000s and 2010s, are over. The new work is, in places, unexpectedly bluesy classic rock. Say, some of the songs can well be imagined in the performance of Ozzy Osbourne of the 1990s. This style suits the new Manson very well: slow and as if slouching explosive music gives full disclosure to the newfound anger of the artist.
But the question is, who will listen to this music today, except for the artist's die-hard fans? One Assassination Under God - Chapter 1 is released on an underground label, with minimal promotion, no word about it in Western publications, and Manson's reputation is virtually ruined. It simply won't reach most potential listeners. And many will not want to familiarize themselves with the record because of the accusations against Manson.
Oh, and besides, it's not like Marilyn Manson ever made outright brilliant art. Even his best albums worked at the expense of the extra-musical image of the band and the artist himself. If you go back to the same Holy Wood or Antichrist Superstar disc, it's easy to see that they feature pretty standard 1990s heavy rock. Cute, well-made, but obviously not brilliant. What to say about One Assassination Under God - Chapter 1. This is not the kind of music without which life is incomplete.
It seems that the album could not have been released without the consent of a team of lawyers, especially considering that in the U.S. lyrics are often used as evidence in courts (recent cases against popular rappers Gunna and Young Thug are an example). There are two possible explanations for why the album came out the way it did.
The first is that Manson's team feels that their chances of fighting back in the courts are pretty high. That's why the rocker chose such confident tactics.
The second option: Manson's situation is so bad and the accusations have him so cornered that there's no point in repenting, confessing and asking for forgiveness. It's not going to work anyway, which means you can still wave that very red flag. This is, after all, quite in the spirit of Manson, who has never apologized.
