Marilyn Manson has set loose for us his new video for "The Mephistopheles of Los Angeles", the fourth single off of his latest album 'The Pale Emperor'. It is directed by Francesco Carrozzini who has also done videos for Sia, Lana Del Rey, and A$AP Rocky.
Moral America has spared no opportunity for pelting Marilyn Manson with abuse and labelling him a bad influence. The strange thing is, the more familiar one becomes with Manson, the more moral he seems to be. Manson is one of the most remarkable artists of his time and has been subverting society as best he can. The self-proclaimed Anti-Christ superstar has provided us with something raw, intriguing, and, rather quite beautiful with this new work. The religious imagery has been consistent, and one can see it throughout the video. This blanched film depicts Manson stalking the streets of LA and preaching to a gang of followers, performing religious rituals on innocent young ladies, and, naturally, it all takes a dark twist. As with the Faustian myth, Mephistopheles is a demon whom retrieves the ill-omened souls of those already damned.
Manson is having something of a resurrection, as his new album has presented a re-primed Manson in a new phase of life. Manson's mother, Barbara, died during the making of this new album. "It's inevitable, I know, and I made my peace with her a few years ago when she was no longer aware of who I was," he said in a recent interview. In the record's liner notes, he dedicates the album to her. "My father drove from Ohio to California to see my show on Halloween, I didn't understand why he drove, but he later told me he was spreading her ashes on Route 66." His Father is also going to travel on tour with Warner for the first time ever. Manson is co-headlining tour with Smashing Pumpkins will take place this July.
The question for any artist is not to keep up with what they have been doing, but to find out where they need to go. Trying to create something through a blindness, but holding on to a sense of purpose. The Pale Emperor is a new direction for Manson, it re-establishes him as a welcome artist of the day, one of the few last rock stars, and someone who still has something relevant to say. A Rock star has mental and emotional scares, and one has to pay their dues when it comes to proving oneself. Manson says that perhaps Rock might not be dead, despite the gloomy outlook. Perhaps it is hiding or can be resurrected.
'I'm chaos, I've always been chaos, my point on Earth is chaos,' crowed Manson in a recent and provocative Rolling Stone interview. 'I'm the third act of every movie you've ever seen. I'm the part where it rains and the part where the person you don't want to die dies. I'm here just to fuck shit up." Chaos is part of the world, not something that has been wreaked upon it.