so what is MM this time - a doppelganger? He is constantly reincarnating himself for the next phase of who he is. I liked a few tracks off this one, but some weren't so great. However, I think he still has something to say at this point.

THIS CD IS VERY ATMOSPHERIC.IT HAS A PRESENCE.RELAX AND LISTEN-YOU'LL SEE WHAT I MEAN.THIS CD IS GREAT!HIS " DOPPELHERZ " DVD IS ALSO GREAT!IT'S REALLY DIFFERENT.THERE ARE ALOT OF DIFFERENT THINGS ON THE DVD.I CAN'T NARROW IT DOWN TO ANYTHING SPECIFIC.GET THIS!YOU'LL ENJOY IT!

THIS ALBUM TITLE IS PERFECT!HIS SONGS,AND THEIR TITLES MATCH THIS CD PERFECTLY!NOT ONLY CAN YOU HEAR THE DIFFERENCE ON THIS CD FROM HIS OTHER CDS-BUT YOU CAN ALSO FEEL THE DIFFERENCE.THIS CD HAS AN AURA ALL OF ITS OWN.THE BONUS DVD: " DOPPELHERZ " IS VERY INTERESTING.IT'S UNIQUE!THE CD,AND DVD ARE EXCELLENT!IF YOU'RE A TRUE MANSON FAN-YOU'LL GET THIS!

I was ready to write Brian Warner off after his last couple of CDs flopped. The quality wasn't there and he seemed to be reaching for conformation. But lo and behold, his latest CD is also his greatest. Grotesque is full of original hooks, melody and sounds that make it fresh and exciting. The subject matter is more relevant and less shock value which makes it easier to absorb the messages while banging your head to the music. Best tracks: "Vodevil", "Bright Young Things" and "Mobscene".

I am pretty surprised at the amount of negativity in these reviews. I am more surprised at how banal these complaints are. The chief one seems to be that he "uses rap slang now". Which is funny, as it is the chorus of the song "The Better Of Two Evils" and doesn't show up anywhere else on the album. The lyrics, "Haters Call me bitch, call me faggot, call me whitey, I am something that you'll never be" are barely hip hop, and I have this question for the complainers: What exactly are the haters saying about Manson if not those exact same things? But I digress.
This is an extremely solid Manson album. The lyrics are very memorable, and seem to be less constructed around a character (as all his previous albums, barring the Spoooky Kids work, are) and focus more on his relationship with the world around him. For me, this makes them easier to relate to. He has a tendency to to combine words and images in a very clever way that you don't see very often in rock music today. The music is much more industrial flavored, as the psych-rock freakout bass/guitar work of Twiggy Ramirez has been replaced with the cold, hard slam of Tim Skold. It's different, but fits the mood of the album very well. And as Manson said "It's not meant to be like the old songs. It's meant to be better."
As for the DVD, it's some pretty freaked out junk. Very out there and strange, might be hard to get for some people. I don't know. It's hard to make a general statement about it, other than that I quite enjoyed it as a visual piece of art.
That's about it. I can't pick a favorite song from the album. My least favorite is probably Para-Noir, which is less of a song and more of an audio experiment. If you don't need songs that make you angry at your parents or overly angst-y brain damaged "rawk" to freak out the "preps at skool" to enjoy a CD, I highly recommend this. If you do, maybe you should be listening to the Disturbed or Limp Bizkit or some such nonsense.