Eat Me, Drink Me (Interscope)

Those who've seen Marilyn Manson in an interview situation have probably wondered why someone who comes across as intelligent and thoughtful has been content to froth about in the muck of vamp and camp, never really getting beyond cheap-shock tactics. Eat Me, Drink Me, Manson's latest album, holds a lot of promise for those of us who always thought he could do better. It seems the former God of Fuck has been obsessed with watching his image warped by the carnival mirror of the media, and has consequently focused his gaze inward. The result (though you wouldn't know it by stock song titles like "You and Me and the Devil Makes 3") is perhaps Manson's most mature album to date.

Musically, the material is more pop-oriented than ever, recalling David Bowie circa Berlin, Fun House–era Stooges, and, most disarmingly, Roxy Music's Greatest Hits. Of course, all of this is filtered through an epic wall of swampy goth rock. Both "Putting Holes in Happiness" and the dreadfully titled "Mutilation Is the Most Sincere Form of Flattery" stand out as winners, in spite of–not because of–Manson's love-it-or-hate-it croak. Yes, although Eat Me, Drink Me will manage to convince a few more of us to hate the world and slam doors on our parents, the dude still can't sing worth a lick.