Holy Wood

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Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)
Studio album by Marilyn Manson
Released	November 13, 2000 (United Kingdom) November 14, 2000 (Australia and United States) December 5, 2000 (Japan)
Recorded	1999-2000 at Death Valley, California
Genre	Industrial metal Alternative metal
Length	68:19
Label	Nothing/Interscope
Producer	Marilyn Manson, Dave Sardy
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Billboard (Favorable) link Entertainment Weekly B link NME (Favorable) link Robert Christgau link Rolling Stone link
Marilyn Manson chronology
The Last Tour on Earth (1999) Holy Wood (2000) The Golden Age of Grotesque (2003)
Singles from Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death
"Disposable Teens" Released: November 7, 2000 " The Fight Song" Released: February 2, 2001 " The Nobodies" Released: October 6, 2001

Alternate album cover

Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) is the fourth full-length album by rock band Marilyn Manson. It was released on November 14, 2000 by Interscope Records. It is a concept album, and the third and final album of a trilogy along with Antichrist Superstar and Mechanical Animals. It spawned three singles ("Disposable Teens", "The Fight Song" and "The Nobodies") and a novel which remains currently unreleased.

Holy Wood was Marilyn Manson's first album since the Columbine High School massacre (20 April 1999), for which some media outlets, pundits and politicians had made him scapegoat through accusations that his music and "goth" imagery influenced killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. Consequently, much of the album's content addresses the issue and poses several counterarguments investigating the roles parents, the values and culture of Conservative Christian America and the media alike also play in the exaltation and acceptance into the "mainstream" of wholesale violence. The record supplants this by underlining American society's obsession with guns, religion and fame - esp. fame that has historically been attained by people whose deaths have been publicly displayed and romanticized in the media (televised or print) and consequently painted as "martyrs" within the national or public consciousness (e.g., President John F. Kennedy also, by extension, Jesus Christ). This is the band's most successful album to date, selling over 9 million copies worldwide.^[1]

Additionally, as with Antichrist Superstar and Mechanical Animals, the album was released with a cardboard sleeve featuring alternate artwork due to some retailers refusing to stock the album with the original artwork portraying Manson in a crucified pose with a missing jaw. Manson described the move as "censorship" and stated that "those offended by my album cover have successfully proven my point." [2]

Concept

Holy Wood is the prequel to Mechanical Animals and Antichrist Superstar. The main character in the over-arching storyline is Adam Kadmon who was previously manifested by Manson as the androgynous alien/rockstar "Omēga" in Mechanical Animals and "The Worm / Antichrist Superstar" on Antichrist Superstar.

Interestingly, the tragic and ill-fated character Coma White (from Mechanical Animals) is paralleled on this album by "Coma Black".

Holy Wood follows Adam Kadmon, a rebel from the Valley of Death, which is essentially a dwelling of "rejects", who leads a revolution against Holy Wood, which is populated by the rich and famous; referred to in Antichrist Superstar as "The Beautiful People". His revolution is a bittersweet success in that, while he does eradicate Holy Wood, the void assumes "the rejects" into becoming the mainstream and status quo. The new-found power and influence quickly erode their original guiding principles and they soon devolve into the same fake, profiteering, and hollow monsters as the denizens of Holy Wood. All of this disenchants Adam and leads to his (assumed) suicide and the start of the Mechanical Animals storyline.

Mechanical Animals then follows the journey, the protagonist now with a new name but essentially the same character as Adam: "Omēga" - a decadent and sexually ambiguous androgynous alien who, much like David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust, falls down to earth, is captured and then turned into a rock star product. Another lesser character on the album is Alpha who is more Manson like. Omēga, just like Adam, has a love interest for Coma. As a rock star, Omēga becomes increasingly addicted to drugs, emotionally dissociated and nihilistic. All the while his relationship with Coma grows more dysfunctional and falls into disrepair. Just as in Holy Wood, he snaps.

Finally the Antichrist Superstar storyline begins. It follows one main character and the two stages of his life; The Worm and The Disintegrator. The Worm is likened to "an insignificant shadow looking for his place in an infinite world of light." In his journey, he becomes a fascistic, repressive tyrant, the eponymous "Antichrist Superstar", known alternatively as "The Disintegrator", who in his vitriol, betrays everything the revolution fought for and along the way destroys everyone and everything around him.

Reception

Holy Wood received positive reviews from critics. Rolling Stone said: "The band truly rocks: Its malevolent groove fleshes out its leader's usual complaints with an exhilarating swagger that's the essence of rock & roll." Allmusic said: "There's so much effort, Holy Wood winds up a stronger and more consistent album than any of his other work."

It debuted at #13 on the Billboard 200 and had sold 427,000 copies in the USA by December 2001 according to Soundscan.

Book and film

The album was meant to be accompanied by a book and a movie of the same name which further delves into the concept album's backstory. The book has yet to be released, allegedly due to a publishing dispute^{[citation needed]}, and the movie never began production. While interviewing Manson around the time of the release of the book Stranger Than Fiction, Chuck Palahniuk mentions the book—saying it is complete—and compliments its style.^{[citation needed]}

Track listing

All lyrics written by Manson. 

The disc contains a data track containing an easter egg video at Interscope's website which is no longer hosted. This video is also included as a secret track on the companion DVD to Lest We Forget.

Credits

• Marilyn Manson
  • Marilyn Manson - Arranger, Vocals, Producer, Art Direction, Concept, Syncussion, Optigan, Mellotron, "Distorted Flute", Synth Bass, Keyboards, Piano, Pianette, Ambiance, Electric Harpsichord, Rhythm Guitar
  • Twiggy Ramirez - Bass, Guitar (Rhythm, Lead, Leslie, Warped), Keyboards
  • John 5 - Guitar (Lead, Rhythm, Acoustic, Synth, Electric, Slide, Phase)
  • Madonna Wayne Gacy - Synths, Ambiance, Keyboards, Samples, Bass Synth, Synth Strings, Mellotron, "Children's Choir and canned laughter of dead people unsure of why they are laughing"
  • Ginger Fish - Drums (Live, Drum Machine), Death & Siren Loops, Keyboards
• Bon Harris - Synthesizers, Programming, Pre-Production Editing, Organic Drum Programming, Bass, Keyboard, "Insect Hi-Hat", Sleigh Bells, (Destructive) Manipulation, Electronics, Piano
• Paulie Northfield - Additional Engineering
• D. Sardy (Dave Sardy) - Producer, Synths, (Organic) Drum Programming, Mixing, Noise Rhythm Guitar, "Pills"
• P.R. Brown - Art Direction, Design, Photography
• Greg Fidelman - Engineer, All Pro-Tools
• Nick Raskulinecz - Assistant Engineer
• Joe Zook - Assistant Engineer
• Kevin Guarnieri - Assistant Engineer
• Danny Saber - Additional loops
• Alex Suttle - Backing Vocals

Charting positions

Album

Singles

References