SOUND BITES

  When you think about Marilyn Manson albums, "grower" may actually be the last thing you think about, especially if your interest waned around the turn of the century like it did for so many; if you haven't paid attention, your lasting impression of Marilyn Manson is likely of a band intent on shock and disruption, incessantly seeking controversy and attention no matter the offence or the cost to their fan base. Indeed, as their career stretched further and further away from their commercial peak (1996's incendiary breakthrough Antichrist Superstar ), there were less and less reasons to care about the increasingly forced attempts to provoke. Combine a more indifferent audience with a less engaged artist and you've got the recipe for rock bottom, which one could argue found Marilyn Manson around a decade ago. Faced with the impending closing of the curtains, the decision was made to steer into more mature and musically diverse waters, and 2015's The Pale Emper...

Anyone who listened without prejudice to The Pale Emperor , Marilyn Manson's 2015 record, could tell you that the band that made its name off controversy and button-pushing was entering a revival of sorts; seeing the tired and aged shtick outlive its welcome, it was a revelation to hear a more mature sound drawn out by producer/collaborator Tyler Bates. It's no surprise, then, that Marilyn Manson would work with Bates again on the group's tenth album; having provided a quality record such as The Pale Emperor was a foot back in the door of the public consciousness, an opportunity to rebuild the brand and pave a new path. It's just a little bit of a letdown, then, to hear that old shtick resurrected on much of  Heaven Upside Down ; to be sure, The Pale Emperor was no testament to purity, but from the jump Manson seems desperate to reclaim some of the outrage he produced in the '90s. F-bombs abound, as do rants against religion and government alike; the thing is,...

Typically a chance to take a breather from the year that had just passed and resolve to get through the winter while looking forward to some great albums in the spring, 2015 bucked that trend in grand fashion. From established artists releasing highly anticipated albums that met or exceeded expectations to hungry new artists looking to make their mark, the first quarter of 2015 provided an abnormally high amount of quality songs and albums. The tone was also set early with female-fronted projects that hit with force and built momentum for women in rock that carried through the rest of the year (I wrote about that here in April). The first batch of Song of the Year nominees are:

In the '90s U.S., while conservative media was trying to censor anything they didn't like and mold the youth of America into corporation-controlled vessels of consumption, a handful of artists found success by going against the grain, resisting the powers that be and trying to convince young people to think for themselves. Rage Against the Machine did it by standing at the intersection of gangsta rap and hard rock with a megaphone waving pamphlets, while Marilyn Manson did it by shrieking from a pulpit wearing torn stockings and smeared makeup. As the anti-everything gleefully pushing any button he could find, Manson found himself in an orgy of controversy from 1994 to 1999, a span during which he consistently horrified, shocked and entertained with various stunts while reveling in the chaos he was causing. In 1998, however, he stirred up controversy among his own fans by radically switching up his image and his band's ethos for third album Mechanical Animals ; after amas...

It's been incredibly quiet over the last few weeks, and thankfully so; working my paying gig in retail is always a bitch at Christmas time, and this year was particularly taxing. Now, with things easing their way back toward something resembling normal again, I figured it's high time we take our annual look ahead. It starts with a handful of artists who have officially confirmed new stuff for early in the year and, as you'll see, there's some pretty intriguing albums on the horizon. Let's dive in, shall we?