By Andy Speck

Loma Vista – Caroline

In terms of sound, the album has a unique flavor amongst Manson’s records. The tracks, especially “KILL4ME” and “Blood Honey”, are all filled with energizing, synthesized beats that quite effectively get you pumped up, but for fans of Antichrist Superstar, there is something to be desired. Manson’s vocals flow infinitely well into the thrashing of a guitar, and unfortunately that presence just isn’t felt.

Lyrically, Heaven Upside Down is strewn about featuring provocative language in some places, with lyrics that sound juvenile in others. Manson is an artist, and through his back catalog of some amazing work, he’s proven competent at writing some of the most intriguing lyrics anyone in the industry has to offer. That’s where a lot of his long-time listeners will take issue with the album. “Je$u$ Cri$i$” not only looks like a punk kid wrote the title in his history notebook, it would appear to the untrained eye one the lyrics were inscribed there too, with “I write songs to fight and to f*ck to” being part of the hilarious chorus.

Stand-out tracks of the album include “Saturnalia” and “Blood Honey”. The mood perpetuated by the former is ominous, as the lyrics at times are drowned out by the sheer atmosphere created by the way the track is mixed. “Blood Honey”, a song about Manson’s battle with attempting to find what his fans want him out of him, does a great job of evoking songs such as “Coma White”, while still evolving his career.

Since the outcry of conservatives the world round in the nineties with the release of his debut album, Marilyn Manson edified his spot as a controversial figure. In this third act of his career, it seems Manson is still somewhat stuck in the nineties. A quick look at the music videos for tracks on this album will show the sexy nun, and other perverted Christian imagery that quite frankly is no longer shocking because a couple of decades ago, those same tropes were already used extensively. In this era of everything going on in the world, we need someone to challenge those social norms, to try and take on what society has become.

Chris Stapleton, Brothers Osborne Night’s Top Winners At “The 51st Annual CMA Awards”

GarthBrooks wins sixth Entertainer of the Year Award at 51st Annual #CMAawards

An all-star group that included Kelsea Ballerini, Brooks, Kix Brooks, Eric Church, Ronnie Dunn, Faith Hill, Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, Reba McEntire, Tim McGraw, Thomas Rhett, Darius Rucker, and Keith Urban struck a chord of togetherness through the ABC Television Network broadcast with an emotional collaboration that began with Church singing “Amazing Grace” a cappella in silhouette, then the rest of the group joining in on Rucker’s uplifting hit “Hold My Hand” from his time as the lead singer of Hootie & The Blowfish.

Co-host Carrie Underwood then summed up the evening’s mission statement in the opening of her 10th year monologue with Brad Paisley: “Las Vegas. Charlottesville. New York. Sutherland Springs. Historic storms in Texas, Puerto Rico and Florida. The list goes on and on. This has been a year marked by tragedy, impacting countless lives, including so many in our Country Music family. So tonight we’re going to do what families do – come together, pray together, cry together and sing together.”

By the end of the night, fans and members of the industry had done a little of all those things, celebrating the best music of the last year while calling for unity in a nation torn asunder by violence and tragedy, to remembering departed heroes such as Glen Campbell, who lost his fight with Alzheimer’s disease, to Troy Gentry, one half of the duo Montgomery Gentry, taken too soon when his helicopter crashed on the way to a gig. The later was honored with a performance by Dierks Bentley, Rascal Flatts, and surprise guest and bandmate Eddie Montgomery.

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