NEW REVIEW - FR + ENGLISH - MARILYN MANSON - WE ARE CHAOS - 2020 LOMA VISTA
Il en a toujours été ainsi. Les fans adorent enterrer leurs idoles de leur vivant. Meurs pour moi rocker ! .
Cette fascination macabre était déjà vivace chez les fans des Beatles fantasmant sur un Paul Mc Cartney mort et remplacé par un sosie sur la pochette d'Abbey Road. On ne changera pas l'humanité, et le chaland sera toujours davantage attiré par la une dégueulasse du dernier France Dimanche que par un livre risquant de l'instruire. Amy Winehouse deviendra un génie post-mortem. Nature humaine assoiffée de sang.
We are Chaos nous chante Brian Warner de sa voix passée au papier de verre des soirées trop arrosées de breuvages alcoolisés et de substances illicites. Nous somme le chaos, aujourd'hui comme hier, comme demain.
Ainsi donc les fans de Mr Warner ont tôt fait de l'enterrer puisque, depuis une vingtaine d'années, chaque sortie de Marilyn Manson est l'objet de railleries et de critiques sourdes de la part de soi-disant fans qui n'ont de demi-molle que lorsque ils glaviotent sur ceux qu'ils ont tant aimé. On travaille sa frustration comme on peut.
Ce onzième album (douzième si l'on compte le long Ep Smells Like Children et treizième en comptant le live) subira t'il le même sort injuste que ces prédécesseurs ?
Depuis The Golden Age Of Grotesque (2003) Manson reçoit sa volée de bois vert à chaque album.
Pourtant, il n'a pas a rougir de sa carrière, loin s'en faut, et tous ses albums ont leurs qualités. Certes, Mr Warner est coupable d'avoir démarré trop fort, avec une série de chefs d’œuvres ayant mis la barre bien haut (entre Portrait Of American Family et Mechanical Animals...) tout en rappelant au passage que ce dernier cité avait reçu sa dose de mollards à sa sortie en 98, tout en devenant culte par la suite, cqfd...
Non, We Are Chaos n'est pas LE meilleur album de Marilyn Manson, il est globalement en deça de Mechanical Animals ou Antichrist Superstar, mais il est aussi probable que le "god of fuck" ne fera jamais plus haut que ces deux sommets.
Mais Marilyn Manson n'a plus rien a prouver depuis longtemps, tant il est rare aujourd'hui de trouver un artiste ayant produit autant de pépites en trente ans de carrière (ou presque).
We Are Chaos est un album libre, d'une grande beauté et d'une grosse cohérence, plus tortueux et complexe que ce qu'une première écoute pourrait faire croire. Merci Brian pour cette nouvelle offrande, suite idéale à Pale Emperor et Heaven Upside Down. L'art n'est pas mort ! Get Behind me Satan !
This has always been the case. Fans love to bury their idols while they're alive. Die for me rocker! .
This macabre fascination was already alive among Beatles fans fantasizing about a dead Paul McCartney who was replaced by a look-alike on the cover of Abbey Road. We won't change humanity, and the barge will always be more attracted by the disgusting front page of the last France Dimanche than by a book that might teach it. Amy Winehouse will become a post-mortem genius. Blood-thirsty human nature.
We are Chaos sings Brian Warner with his voice that has been sandpapered from parties overloaded with alcoholic beverages and illegal substances. We are Chaos, today as yesterday, as tomorrow. So Mr Warner's fans soon had to bury him since, for the last twenty years, every Marilyn Manson release has been the object of taunting and deaf criticism from so-called fans who only get half a soft spot when they glaze over the ones they loved so much. You work on your frustration as best you can.
Will this eleventh album (twelfth if we count the long Ep Smells Like Children and thirteenth if we count the live) suffer the same unfair fate as its predecessors?
Since The Golden Age Of Grotesque (2003) Manson receives his green wood volley with each album.
However, he has nothing to be ashamed of in his career, far from it, and all his albums have their qualities. Certainly, Mr Warner is guilty of having started too strong, with a series of masterpieces that set the bar high (between Portrait Of American Family and Mechanical Animals...) while reminding us that the latter had received its dose of mollards when it was released in 98, while becoming cult afterwards, cqfd...
No, We Are Chaos is not THE best Marilyn Manson album, it is globally below Mechanical Animals or Antichrist Superstar, but it is also likely that the "god of fuck" will never be higher than these two peaks. But Marilyn Manson has nothing more to prove for a long time, so much it is rare today to find an artist having produced so many nuggets in thirty years of career (or almost).
This We Are Chaos will not seduce those who still hope for an Antichrist Superstar II. Don't dream: he will never exist. And I'll tell you: it's a good thing Mr Warner has moved on, because trying to follow up on one of his major albums would inevitably be a failure. The Brian Quinqua continues to walk his road, like his mentor David Bowie, whose spectre haunts this album, with reminiscences of "Absolute Beginners" on "Don't Chase the Dead" and even more sound researches worthy of the Berlin period of the great David here and there. But it would be unfairly reductive to consider this album only as an opus under influence. Brian Warner has long since found his own way. And his voice! For he has never sung better than here, as a crooner of darkness worn out by excesses and depressing post-modernity. We feel him here calmed, mature, without any obligation to play "I'm darker than you". We Are Chaos is a collection of songs that are brighter and more subtle than their pop decorum might at first glance suggest. The man doesn't give a damn about his street credibility, and shows himself free in his approach, always able when the urge comes back to show his teeth from time to time ("Infinite Darkness" brings the antichrist back to life) and to remind everyone that the Pale Emperor can still be scary. But does he still want to?
We Are Chaos is a free album, of great beauty and coherence, more tortuous and complex than a first listening could make believe. Thank you Brian for this new offering, a perfect sequel to Pale Emperor and Heaven Upside Down. Art is not dead! Get Behind me Satan!
https://marilynmanson.bandcamp.com/album/we-are-chaos
