Marilyn Manson - The Pale Emperor (2015)

   Officially the 2003 released "The Golden Age of Grotesque" was Marilyn Manson's last commercially successful album and the band have been at their peak of success being played as frequently as never before (though it was pretty much a forgettable album). Over a decade long silence came after that basically wasn't silent, since 3 albums came out meanwhile, only they've been completely inostensible. And unexpectedly Marilyn Manson have returned with "The Pale Emperor", a record, that brought back exactly that kind of music what used to make people liking their music so much. However, a few things have been changed meanwhile in general.
   Even though the music was able to bring back what so many have been waiting for, and the album also included the same spirit, that insulted every good hypochristian American back then, Mr. Manson didn't become a common scapegoat like how he used to be back then (which also meant no free commercial). The world has changed meanwhile. Rough social criticism didn't reach people's unjustified oversensitivity in the mid '10s like 15 years ago, such as Mr. Manson's androgynous appearance. First the emo subculture, later the rainbow cult turned the whole thing as a trend, therefore the shock rock factor didn't work like before, and this definitely had effect on the sales. However "The Pale Emperor" was able to reach the quality that was long lost after "Holy Wood" by including plenty of catchy songs that are both reflecting some actual and plenty of good old features. The band's darker, more ominous tone with raw social criticism wasn't new, but long time missing, and its return proved to be the best step that the band have made in the past 15 years. It worked well even being combined with the softer and more chilling tone, that have been completely usual during the forgettable period. This way the music became catchy, easy to go into and a bit more diverse too, though diversity in Mr. Manson's music was never a sensible factor during exact albums. Probably the endeavours of creating unified sound have been responsible for the homogeneity of each Marilyn Manson album. For most old fans "The Pale Emperor" finally wasn't disappointing and could have been nostalgic too, cause it recalled the feeling why they've become Marilyn Manson fans back then.