“Holy Wood”

Marilyn Manson

Compare to: Nine Inch Nails, Dope, Professional Murder Music

4 Stars

“Holy Wood” is supposed to be the bridge that connects Marilyn Manson’s two prior albums, “Antichrist Superstar” and 1998’s “Mechanical Animals.” This is not an easy task considering that these two albums have about as much in common as Manson and Tipper Gore do.

But he constructs this bridge like a true musical architect. There is something on this album for fans of the darker, heavier Manson of “Antichrist” plus something for the fans of the cleaner, more pop-oriented Manson of “Mechanical Animals.”

“Lamb of God” and “The Fight Song” are examples of the group returning to the heavy static fuzz and distorted vocals that put them on the map. They also feature lyrics that won’t fail to piss off religious groups across the nation.

“I’m not a slave to a god that doesn’t exist/ I’m not a slave to a world that doesn’t give a shit,” Manson sings in “The Fight Song.”

The first single from the record, “Disposable Teens,” is one of the more pop-oriented songs on the record. It also sounds exactly like a former Marilyn Manson hit, “Beautiful People.” The guitar work of John5 and drumming of Ginger Fish are quite similar in both songs. Listeners shouldn’t be surprised to catch themselves chanting the chorus to “Beautiful People” as the songs starts.

The thing Marilyn Manson does best time and time again is making downright frightening and depressing songs. “In The Valley Of The Shadow Of Death” features background noise of screaming babies and succeeds in sending a bit of a chill through the skin.

But it’s the last song featured on the album, “Count To Six And Die,” that paints the most disturbing image of all. The sound of a revolver being spun accompanies lyrics such as, “She’s got her eyes open wide/ She’s got her lips on the metal/ Some do it fast Some do it better in smaller amounts.”

The song ends with a haunting piano piece and the sounds of a game of Russian roulette. The hammer is cocked and an empty shot is fired five consecutive times. Manson lets the imagination figure out what happens on number six.

The most impressive song on this record is one that seems to have been fueled by the unjustified negative publicity that Manson received during the Columbine tragedy. “Target Audience” seems to be Manson’s reply to what happened, but he’s definitely not taking blame for anything.

“You’re just a copy of an imitation,” Manson chants at the end of the track. Sometimes artists pour out every emotion they while writing a song, and this is unquestionably one of those songs.

Sure, it might be easy to sell Marilyn Manson off as just a “shock rocker” who is just out to get a reaction. And that’s probably not a wrong assumption.

But as a group, Marilyn Manson makes fantastic hard rock music, and Marilyn Manson himself is a terrific vocalist with controversial beliefs, opinions and the balls to stand up for them against anybody. And if that isn’t the true spirit of rock ‘n’ roll, what is? —Trevor Fisher”Conspiracy of One”

The Offspring

Compare to: Green Day, Lit, Guttermouth

4 StarsGreen Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong and Offspring frontman Dexter Holland have a lot in common. After establishing underground followings, both men led their respective bands to multi-platinum mainstream success (“Dookie” and “Smash”) during 1994.

Both Armstrong and Holland have been criticized for releasing singles — “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” and “Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)” — that were uncharacteristic of their sounds.

But more importantly, Armstrong and Holland are both punks that weren’t able to stay in Never Never Land — they got older and grew up.

However, unlike the current, more serious incarnation of Green Day, The Offspring are still fun — more Peter Pan than Captain Hook.

Brendan O’Brien (Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots), the Tinkerbell to Holland’s Pan, adds fairy dust production to a crisp album.

Holland plays the role of a grown up Lost Boy, still able to knock out a hopeful punk anthem like “Come Out Swinging,” in which he sings, “Don’t turn away, don’t turn away/ Come out swinging/ Never alone again/ the pain inside can guide your way.”

The Offspring start out with a somewhat serious tone, but humor is not far off.

The album opens with a brief introduction — now a staple on The Offspring albums — by none other than Mike Love of the Beach Boys, hinting at the fun to come.

Alarmingly similar to “Pretty Fly” at first, the “Lowrider”-influenced “Original Prankster” lacks annoying female background singers and features rapper Redman — though it does have a sample of the guy from “Waterboy” saying, “You can do it!”

Aside from this potentially never-get-it-out-of-your-head radio hit, “Conspiracy of One” finds The Offspring making stylistic jumps that still sound characteristically Offspringish.

And rather than sounding as if they are confused about their sound, The Offspring just seem to be having fun.

“One Fine Day” is an amusing jab at drunks whose perfect day would start by opening up the fridge to have a “tall boy.”

A tough break-up is the subject of “Denial, Revisited,” a track that brings to mind the heyday of alt rock — and Offspring tracks such as “Gone Away” — without sounding stale.

Never afraid to try something new, Holland kicks out the instantly catchy, glistening pop-punk gem “Want You Bad.” Though the song sounds like Blink-182, Fenix TX and SR-71, it almost makes fun of these bands’ sappy pop love songs.

During the track, Holland sings, “Your one vice is you’re too nice/ Come around now can’t you see/ I want you all tattooed/ I want you bad/ Complete me, mistreat me/ I want you bad.”

Though the Offspring haven’t broken any new ground, they’ve managed to have fun and make a record that doesn’t really contain a bad song — unlike 1998’s “Americana”.

Holland and his Lost Boys may have gotten older, but they still can fly and don’t want to completely grow up just yet. — Jon Dahlager

“Songs From an American Movie Vol. Two: Good Time for a Bad Attitude”

Everclear

Compare to: Third Eye Blind, They Might Be Giants

2 Stars

At one time, there was something really refreshing about Everclear — they played good ol’ pop/rock. No screaming, no cheesy boy band crap and no lame attempts to mix in hip hop.

But now there’s something very boring about Everclear — they play good ol’ pop/rock. And after remaking a similar sound from album to album, the latest Everclear effort, “Songs From an American Movie Vol. Two: Good Time for a Bad Attitude,” is nothing new, nulling a once refreshing sound.

“Vol. 1: Learning How to Smile,” released earlier this year, found the threesome picking up the acoustic guitars and playing catchy pop songs all revolving around a central theme — frontman Art Alexakis’ divorce.

“Vol. 2” is supposed to be the darker sequel, filled with harder rock and a more rough lyrical content. But this record comes off as typical Everclear album with a little more distortion, louder singing and few swear words.

Songs such as “Rock Star” and “All Fucked Up” have the edge in the music that Everclear was probably trying to achieve. However, Alexakis’ singing voice is one that is so redundant and soft, it brings the intensity of the music down, pushing the band’s sound to duplicate the super-pop feel of 1997’s “So Much for the Afterglow.”

Then there is a song like “Babytalk,” featuring lyrics like, “This is a song about Spike/ he is a bad ass guy/ everyone I know/ who knows Spike too/ would I agree when I say the words/ that Spike is cool.”

As soon as anybody hears this song, their first instinct will be to switch right to the next song, which is probably a good idea because the chorus finds Alexakis yelling, “She’s got him by the balls.”

So Alexakis went through a divorce and put out two albums in five months to talk about it. But when the band and singer don’t have much range in their sound, two albums in five years would be a better idea.

— Kyle Moss