Formation and The Spooky Kids (1989–1992) In 1989, Brian Warner was a college student working towards a degree in
journalism at
Broward College, gaining experience by writing music articles for the
South Florida lifestyle magazine
25th Parallel. It was in this capacity that he met several of the musicians to whom his own band would later be compared, including
My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult and
Trent Reznor of
Nine Inch Nails. That December, he met
Scott Putesky, who proposed the two form a band, after reading some lyrics and poems written by Warner. Warner, guitarist Putesky and bassist Brian Tutunick recorded their first demo tape as Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids in 1990, taking on the stage names of
Marilyn Manson,
Daisy Berkowitz and
Olivia Newton Bundy, respectively. Bundy left the band soon after, and was replaced by
Gidget Gein, born Brad Stewart. They were later joined on keyboard by Stephen Bier, who called himself
Madonna Wayne Gacy. In 1991, drummer Fred Streithorst joined the band under the name
Sara Lee Lucas. The stage names adopted by each member were representative of a concept the band considered central: the
dichotomy of
good and evil, and the existence of both, together, in every whole. "
Marilyn Monroe had a dark side", explained Manson in his autobiography, "just as
Charles Manson has a good, intelligent side." Over the next six years, all of the band's members would adopt names that combined the first name of a female
sex symbol and the surname of a
serial killer. Images of both Monroe and Manson, as well as of other famous and infamous figures, were common in the band's early promotional materials. The Spooky Kids' popularity in the area grew quickly and because of the band's highly visual concerts, which drew from
performance art and used many
shock techniques such as "naked women nailed to a cross, a child in a cage, or bloody animal body parts." Band members variously performed in women's clothing or bizarre costumes; and, for lack of a professional
pyrotechnician, would set their own stage props on fire.
Portrait of an American Family and Smells Like Children (1993–1995) Reznor offered the band a contract with the label, as well as an opening slot supporting Nine Inch Nails on their upcoming "
Self Destruct Tour". The band's members, along with Reznor, criticized Mosimann's production as being flat, lifeless and poorly representative of the band's live performances. At the same time, Gidget Gein had begun to lose control of his addiction to heroin. Reznor agreed to rework production of
The Manson Family Album in October 1993 at
Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles. Gein, who had been hospitalized after his fourth heroin overdose, was not invited to participate, and was fired from the band soon after, replaced by White, of Amboog-a-Lard, who undertook the alias Twiggy Ramirez. The band began its first
national headlining tour in December 1994, with Jack Off Jill opening. During the band's stint as opening act on the Nine Inch Nails tour, Manson met
Church of Satan founder
Anton LaVey. LaVey bestowed the title of "
Reverend" on Manson– meaning a person who is revered by the church, and not necessarily one who dedicates their life to preaching the religion to others, as with a priest or
minister. Manson would use this title in the liner notes of the band's following album, citing himself as "Reverend Marilyn Manson". In March 1995, the band began a two-month tour, this time with
Monster Voodoo Machine as support. This would be drummer Sara Lee Lucas's last tour with the band. The proposed single eventually developed into
Smells Like Children, which included the band's version of the
Eurythmics' "
Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)", their first hit; the song's music video was placed in heavy rotation on
MTV, in stark contrast with the "Dope Hat" video, which the same channel had banished to late-night airplay only a few months prior.
Antichrist Superstar (1996–1997) The band's second studio album,
Antichrist Superstar, was released on October 8, 1996. It was recorded at
Nothing Studios with Reznor, Manson,
Sean Beavan and former
Skinny Puppy member and longtime producer
Dave Ogilvie sharing co-production duties; members of both Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails took part in its recording. The process of making the album was a long and difficult one, highlighted by experiments involving
sleep deprivation and near-constant drug use, in an effort to create a violent and hostile environment suited to the album's content. During this time, antagonism between band members was high. Daisy Berkowitz, the band's founding guitarist, departed the band partway through the album's recording process, with Twiggy performing much of the album's guitar work. Timothy Linton responded to an advert seeking Berkowitz's replacement. He would form a close relationship with Madonna Wayne Gacy, who was responsible for the inclusion of one of the major sources of inspiration for the album:
Kabbalah. Breaking with the six-year tradition of naming band members after female icons and serial killers,
Zim Zum was chosen as Linton's stage name. It was derived from the
Lurianic Kabbalah concept of
Tzimtzum. "
The Beautiful People" was released as the album's lead single. It created enough anticipation for
Antichrist Superstar that the album debuted at number three on the
Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 132,000 copies. Manson also appeared on the cover of
Rolling Stone, who awarded the band their 'Best New Artist' accolade in 1997. In addition, nearly every performance of the tour was picketed by religious organizations. In July 1997, Manson collaborated with British
trip hop group
Sneaker Pimps for the single "
Long Hard Road Out of Hell" from the soundtrack to the 1997 film
Spawn. The band released their second EP,
Remix & Repent, on November 25, 1997. It featured new versions of
Antichrist Superstar's four singles: "The Beautiful People", "
Tourniquet", "
Antichrist Superstar" and "
Man That You Fear". In February 1998, Manson released his autobiography,
The Long Hard Road Out of Hell, as well as a live video entitled
Dead to the World. It was also confirmed that
Antichrist Superstar would be the first installment in a
concept album trilogy which the band called their
triptych.
Mechanical Animals (1998–1999) The band released the second part of their triptych,
Mechanical Animals, on September 15, 1998. Co-produced by the band's lead singer with
Sean Beavan and
Michael Beinhorn, the album moved away from the
industrial rock production of its predecessor and was strongly influenced by 1970s
glam rock, particularly
David Bowie's 1974 album
Diamond Dogs.
Billy Corgan served as an unofficial consultant to the band during the early development of the album. After playing a few songs for him, Corgan advised them that "This is definitely the right direction" but to "go all the way with it. Don't just hint at it", referring to its inclusion of glam influences. whose stage name, John 5, was given to him by Manson during their first lunch meeting. Interscope's promotion of the album was massive, with the label erecting enormous billboards of the lead singer as an
androgynous extraterrestrial in both
Times Square and
Sunset Strip. Repeated appearances on MTV and other networks helped propel the album's lead single, "
The Dope Show", to number twelve on Billboard's
Mainstream Rock chart, The song's music video was critically acclaimed, winning two awards at the 1998
Billboard Music Video Awards as well as the
Best Cinematography award at the
1999 MTV VMA's; while the song was also nominated for
Best Hard Rock Performance at the
41st Annual Grammy Awards. The album would go on to debut at number one on the
Billboard 200, with first week sales of over 223,000. After a brief promotional campaign, the band set out on the "
Beautiful Monsters Tour" with
Hole. The tour would be a problematic one, and was marred by frequent on–and–off stage exchanges between Manson and Hole vocalist
Courtney Love. Private disputes also arose over the tour's financial arrangements, with Hole unwittingly financing most of Manson's production costs, which were disproportionately high relative to Hole's. The tour was to include thirty-seven shows spanning over a two-month period, The final four dates of the tour were canceled out of respect for the victims of the
Columbine High School massacre. The latter half of 1999 and much of 2000 was a period of relative silence for the band, who refused to take part in interviews and retreated from public life. They shelved plans for a proposed single and music video for their cover of
AC/DC's "
Highway to Hell", which appeared on the
soundtrack to
Detroit Rock City. They spent this period writing and recording in a secluded studio in
Death Valley, with only the live album
The Last Tour on Earth appearing during this time. A studio outtake from
Antichrist Superstar, titled "
Astonishing Panorama of the Endtimes", served as its only single.
Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) (2000–2001) Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) was released on November 11, 2000. Produced by the band's lead singer with
Dave Sardy, the album also features programming and pre-production editing by
Bon Harris of
Nitzer Ebb. The band wrote over 100 songs for the album, with the album's third single, "
The Nobodies", directly referring to the shootings. its overarching theme is an exploration of the relationship between death and fame in American culture, and its lyrics and artwork contain many references to
John F. Kennedy and
Lee Harvey Oswald,
John Lennon and
Mark David Chapman, and
Abraham Lincoln and
John Wilkes Booth. The "
Guns, God and Government Tour" elaborated on
Holy Wood's central theme, and with its logo – a rifle and handguns arranged to resemble the
Christian cross – Manson made no attempt to conceal what he saw as the source of that fascination. The band also revealed that within their concept album trilogy,
Holy Wood serves as prequel to
Mechanical Animals and
Antichrist Superstar despite the latter two preceding
Holy Wood in release date. Each album contains its own distinct storyline, which can be linked together to create a larger overarching storyline encompassing all three. After the band announced on their website that they would perform in Denver, they were protested by religious groups. The band planned to "balance out" their "violent lyrics" by quoting biblical texts, "so we can examine the virtues of wonderful Christian stories of disease, murder, adultery, suicide and child sacrifice." The tour was documented by a
DVD of
the same name, which was released on October 29, 2002. In addition to a compilation style concert [songs from multiple individual shows edited together to appear as a single performance], it includes a thirty-minute short film titled "The Death Parade". This was followed by
Guns, God and Government – Live in LA in 2009, which depicts their performance of January 13, 2001, at Los Angeles's
Grand Olympic Auditorium in its entirety. Earlier in 2001, the band released a cover of
Gloria Jones's "
Tainted Love" on the
soundtrack to
Not Another Teen Movie. The song became the band's biggest international hit yet, peaking at number one in numerous European territories. In 2002,
Jonathan Davis of Korn invited Marilyn Manson to record vocals on a track titled "Redeemer", which was released on his
soundtrack to
Queen of the Damned. Manson also appeared in
Michael Moore's 2002 documentary,
Bowling for Columbine; his appearance was filmed on the same day as their Denver Ozzfest performance. When Moore asked what Manson would have said to the students at Columbine, he replied, "I wouldn't say a single word to them. I would listen to what they have to say, and that's what no one did."
The Golden Age of Grotesque and Lest We Forget (2002–2006) With the "triptych" of previous albums complete, the band was free to begin a fresh project. In 2002, Manson created an original score for the
Resident Evil film with former
KMFDM multi-instrumentalist
Tim Skold. Soon after, Skold became an official band member when Twiggy Ramirez amicably left the group, citing creative differences. After finding inspiration through Manson's girlfriend
Dita Von Teese in the
swing and
burlesque movements of
1920s Berlin, the band recorded
The Golden Age of Grotesque, which was released on May 13, 2003, and debuted atop the
Billboard 200 album chart, selling over 118,000 copies on its first week. and topping various national record charts, as well as
Billboard's
European Albums Chart. The album also appeared on several critics' year-end lists, (2003) Eschewing the lyrical depth and symbolism found on
Holy Wood, the album was relatively straightforward: in an extended metaphor, Manson compares his own often-criticized work to the
Entartete Kunst banned by the
Nazi regime. Lyrically, Manson utilizes the
narrative mode of stream of consciousness throughout the album to examine the human
psyche in times of crisis, specifically focusing on the mindset of
lunatics and children, as, according to Manson, "they don't follow the rules [of society]." Several songs incorporate elements commonly found in
playground chants and
nursery rhymes, which Manson would "pervert into something ugly and lurid." Manson began his long-term collaboration with Austrian-Irish artist
Gottfried Helnwein, working together on several multi-media projects associated with the album, including the exhibitions and
installation art projects featured at the album's launch party at The Key Club in Los Angeles, the album artwork, the music video to lead single "
mOBSCENE", as well as the artwork which accompanied Manson's essay for
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Limited edition copies of the album included a DVD titled
Doppelherz (Double-heart), a 25-minute
surrealist short film directed by Manson which featured art direction by Helnwein. Another world tour followed, "
Grotesk Burlesk", which furthered the album's
Weimar Republic-inspired theme by adding Helnwein-created stage dressing and elements of German
Kabarett to the group's performances.
Lest We Forget: The Best Of was released on September 28, 2004, and was referred to by Manson as a "farewell" compilation. It was the last album released under Nothing Records, as the label was dissolved following a lawsuit filed by Reznor against his former manager and business partner,
John Malm. The compilation was supported by the "Against All Gods Tour", as well as a single–a cover of
Depeche Mode's "
Personal Jesus". It was the first and only tour to feature
Mark Chaussee of Rob Halford's
Fight on lead guitar, replacing John 5, whose relationship with Manson had soured over the previous year. Former Nine Inch Nails drummer
Chris Vrenna also replaced Ginger Fish, who fractured his wrist, skull and cheekbone after falling several feet off his drum riser during a performance at a German awards ceremony.
Eat Me, Drink Me (2007–2008) By late 2005, the band had composed 18 new songs, but work on their sixth studio album was halted when Manson focused his attention on various film and art projects, including the development of his screenplay,
Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll, as well as a minor role in the
Lucy Liu movie
Rise: Blood Hunter. He also launched a self-proclaimed art movement, the Celebritarian Corporation, which included artist Gottfried Helnwein, fashion designer
Steven Klein and director Anthony Silva, as well as announcing plans to open an art gallery and publish a book of his paintings. It was after opening the Celebritarian Corporation Gallery Of Fine Art on
Melrose Avenue in 2006 that work started on new material, with Manson writing lyrics over Skold's already existing compositions. The resulting material was
composed and recorded entirely by Skold, and does not feature writing or performance contributions from any other member of the band. Its content is largely inspired by personal troubles relating to Manson's failed marriage to Von Teese, and his burgeoning relationship with then-19-year old actress
Evan Rachel Wood. This would be their last performance featuring longtime keyboardist Madonna Wayne Gacy, who would go on to file a $20m lawsuit against the band the following year for unpaid "partnership proceeds". The album was preceded by the release of a single, "
Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand)", whose music video was shot using director
James Cameron's
3D Fusion Camera System technology. The video caused controversy upon release, with several sources claiming that it featured genuine footage of Manson and Wood engaged in sexual intercourse. Wood was reportedly paid "the highest [music] video salary in history" to appear in the video.
Eat Me, Drink Me was released on June 5, 2007, and entered the
Billboard 200 at number eight with first week sales of 88,000 copies. It also peaked in the top ten of most major international album charts, as well as at number two on
Billboard's European Albums Chart. "
Putting Holes in Happiness" was released as the album's second single. To promote the album, the band embarked on the nine-month "Rape of the World Tour", which featured Skold on lead guitar, former
The Prodigy bassist
Rob Holliday and longtime drummer Ginger Fish; while Vrenna rejoined the band as their live keyboardist. The first leg of the tour was a co-headlining set with American
thrash metal band
Slayer, with support coming from
Bleeding Through. In November 2007, Manson confirmed that he and Skold had begun work on the band's next studio album, with Slayer's
Kerry King, former
The Smashing Pumpkins guitarist
James Iha and Nick Zinner of Yeah Yeah Yeahs set to feature. By the beginning of 2008, however, Twiggy Ramirez had rejoined the band as bassist, resulting in the exit of Skold, with Holliday moving from bass to lead guitar for the remaining duration of the tour. Future collaborations with Skold were not ruled out.
The High End of Low (2009–2010) In 2008, former
Limp Bizkit guitarist
Wes Borland joined the band for their headlining show at the 2008
ETP Fest in South Korea. However, Borland left the group to reunite with Limp Bizkit, later saying that he was reluctant to be a "hired gun", citing the band's refusal to record any of the nine songs he submitted for their upcoming album.
R&B singer
Ne-Yo claimed in early December that he would hold writing sessions with the band's frontman on new material, although Manson denied it, saying that he had "never even met Ne-Yo. I can assure him that he would not want to be associated with something this godless."
The High End of Low was recorded throughout 2008, with Manson recording vocals at his
Hollywood Hills home studio between November and January 5, 2009. Produced by Manson, Twiggy and Vrenna with
Antichrist Superstar and
Mechanical Animals co-producer Sean Beavan, Manson described the album as containing "extreme" autobiographical content relating to the dissolution of his engagement to Wood, Its fifteen songs appear on the album in the order they were written. The album's final song, "15", was completed on Manson's January 5 birthday – hence the name. while a
Hot Topic-exclusive CD single followed two weeks later. After playing an
instrumental version of "
Arma-goddamn-motherfuckin-geddon" to Interscope's
A&R department, it was chosen as the album's official lead single, with an employee telling Manson, "This is gonna be a hit!". Manson then quipped to the employee, "Well, I'm glad that you have no consideration for what I [might] put on top of it." A heavily censored version of the profanity-laced track – re-titled to "Arma ... geddon" – was serviced to radio from April 13, Prior to
The High End of Low's release, Manson made a series of disparaging comments regarding Interscope and its artistic censorship; as well as its then-
CEO Jimmy Iovine, who Manson said "wasn't smart enough to understand what [we] do", and publicly claiming that the label "cares more about
Vitamin Water [the
private equity venture of Interscope-signed
50 Cent] than music." Reznor – who, as of 2015, remains friends with Iovine – responded by calling Manson a "dopey clown" and claiming that "He is a malicious guy and will step on anybody's face to succeed and cross any line of decency." While promoting the album in the UK, Manson appeared inebriated in a series of interviews. An interview for
Alan Carr: Chatty Man recorded during this time remains unaired, due to graphic language and content. A music video for "
Running to the Edge of the World" – in which Manson beats a Wood lookalike to death – was released on November 4 and was condemned as a perceived glorification of violence against women. The band parted ways with Interscope on December 3. They settled the lawsuit filed by former keyboardist Stephen Bier (aka M.W. Gacy), with Manson's insurance company paying Bier's
attorney's fees and Bier receiving no
monetary value.
Born Villain (2011–2013) Upon parting with Interscope, Manson said "a lot of the creative control on which my hands were tied [has been regained]", while stating that the band had been writing new material while touring their previous album. Manson attested that its lyrical content would be "more romantic" yet "self-abusive",
Fred Sablan joined the band in July 2010. By October, Twiggy described the album as being "almost done", and opined that "It's our best record yet. I mean, everyone always says that, but I think this is our best work so far. It's kind of like a little more of a
punk rock Mechanical Animals, without sounding too pretentious." The following month, it was announced that the band had signed a joint-venture deal with London-based
indie label Cooking Vinyl. with the band and label sharing profits equally after the label recoups costs associated with marketing, promotion and distribution. For much of 2011, Manson removed himself from the public spotlight and ceased almost all communication with fans, only taking a break from his self-imposed sequestration to appear in the music video for "Tempat Ku" by
Brunei rock band
D'Hask. On February 24, longtime drummer Ginger Fish announced his resignation from the group. On May 22, their website underwent a complete overhaul. A 26-second clip of an unreleased song, tentatively titled "I am among no one", was uploaded to their
Vimeo account, along with a new logo. After being impressed by his directorial work on one of
Kid Cudi's music videos, Manson employed actor
Shia LaBeouf to direct a short film entitled
Born Villain. Contrary to media reports that the project would be a "making-of" video documenting the album's recording,
Born Villain was a surrealist short featuring a previously unreleased track, "Overneath the Path of Misery". Containing numerous references to
Macbeth, it was inspired by Jodorowsky's
The Holy Mountain In November, Vrenna departed the band to focus on other production work, whilst indicating that production of their eighth studio album was "largely completed". The album was preceded by the release of "
No Reflection", which Manson leaked to
KROQ-FM on March 7, 2012. Cooking Vinyl CEO
Martin Goldschmidt called the leak a "masterstroke", saying "we had all these exclusives lined up around the world, and then Manson blew them all. We're already getting more radio play than the whole of the last record." The song went on to peak at number twenty-six on the Mainstream Rock chart, spending fourteen weeks on the chart, and was their best-performing single there since "Personal Jesus" in 2004. The album spent two weeks at number one on the
UK Rock Albums Chart. A remix EP for "
Slo-Mo-Tion" followed on November 5. The band embarked on the seventeen-month "
Hey Cruel World... Tour" from the end of April, which was interspersed by co-headlining tours with
Rob Zombie ("
Twins of Evil") and
Alice Cooper ("
Masters of Madness").
The Pale Emperor (2014–2016) In August 2012, it was announced that Manson would play a fictionalized version of himself in a four-episode
arc of the sixth season of TV series
Californication. While filming its season finale at the
Greek Theatre in LA, Manson met the series' composer,
Tyler Bates, and the two discussed a potential collaboration. Manson confirmed that production started on new material by May 2013. Four months later, Sablan announced that he had left the group. One track from the album, "
Cupid Carries a Gun" was used as the opening theme to
Salem from its second episode onwards, which premiered on US television on April 27. In October, a large portion of the album track "
Killing Strangers" was predominantly featured in the
Keanu Reeves movie
John Wick. "
Third Day of a Seven Day Binge" was released for free download on the band's website on October 26, and served as the album's first official single. The band performed several new songs live for the first time as they played a handful of concerts around southern California in October and early November. "
Deep Six" was released on December 16, with a music video following three days later. It went on to peak at number eight on
Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart, making it the band's highest-ever peaking single on
Billboard.
The Pale Emperor was released on January 15 in the US. It is dedicated to Manson's mother, who died in May 2014 after an eight-year battle with
Alzheimer's disease and
dementia. It was both a critical and commercial success, debuting at number eight on the
Billboard 200 with sales of over 51,000 copies, their largest opening-week figure since
Eat Me, Drink Me in 2007. Numerous publications referred to it as the band's best album in over a decade. It would go on to appear on several
'best of 2015' lists, with
Rolling Stone dubbing it the 'best metal album' of 2015. Music videos for both "
The Mephistopheles of Los Angeles" and "Third Day of a Seven Day Binge" were released in May and July, respectively. The band embarked on the nearly-two year-long
The Hell Not Hallelujah Tour in support of the album, which was interspersed by a co-headlining tour with The Smashing Pumpkins titled
The End Times. In February 2016, Manson contributed vocals to a version of
David Bowie's "
Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" on
Countach (For Giorgio), a
tribute album to
Giorgio Moroder curated by
Shooter Jennings. A
16-bit music video for the song was released five months later. Also in February, details were announced of another co-headlining tour, this time with
Slipknot. The tour was scheduled to begin on June 9 in
Salt Lake City and consist of thirty-four dates in
Amphitheatres throughout North America, with support from
Of Mice & Men. However, the first twelve dates of the tour were postponed after an examination revealed that
Corey Taylor had broken two vertebrae in his neck. The tour began on June 28 in
Nashville, Tennessee, with the postponed shows rescheduled for August.
Heaven Upside Down (2017–2018) While touring with The Smashing Pumpkins, Manson indicated a "strong possibility" of working with Corgan on new material, and also revealed plans to collaborate with Korn frontman Jonathan Davis on a "
Southern-sounding, acoustic" project. Manson announced in an interview with
KEGL in November that work had begun on the band's tenth studio album, while also confirming that Twiggy, Bates and Sharone would all be involved in its recording.
Antichrist Superstar was reissued on
cassette exclusively in Europe as part of
Record Store Day 2016. To celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the album's release, Manson indicated that a special edition of
Antichrist Superstar would be issued on October 20, although this failed to materialize. Among its bonus content would have been a previously unreleased film, created during the "Dead to the World Tour". On July 19, Manson announced that the band's tenth studio album had the working title
SAY10, and predicted a release date of
Valentine's Day 2017. In September, Manson confirmed that the band were "putting the finishing touches" on the album, and said: "It's not very much in any way like
The Pale Emperor. It's pretty violent in its nature for some reason, and it's not emotional in the same way. It's got a chip on its shoulder. I can't wait for people to hear it. I think they're going to be quite surprised." On November 8 – the day of the
2016 US presidential election – Manson released a teaser clip of a new music video created alongside
Final Girl director
Tyler Shields. It featured scenes of Manson brandishing a knife while standing over a decapitated corpse. According to
The Daily Beasts Marlow Stern, the decapitated figure is dressed to resemble
Donald Trump. Manson would later say that the figure in the video "wasn't anyone except if you wanted it to be them." The album was not released in February 2017, and instead a long series of cryptic videos were posted to Marilyn Manson's personal Instagram account over the course of just under 2 months, before Manson revealed on May 9 that the album had been named
Heaven Upside Down. The band began their
Heaven Upside Down Tour on July 20, 2017, in
Budapest. The first single from the album, "
We Know Where You Fucking Live", was released on September 11, with the album due to follow on October 6. A second single, "
Kill4Me", was released on September 20. The band's founding guitarist, Daisy Berkowitz, died on October 22, 2017, at the age of 49; he had been diagnosed with
Stage IV colorectal cancer in 2013. Two days later, Manson announced he had "decided to part ways" with bassist Twiggy, after a rape allegation was made against Twiggy by his former girlfriend,
Jack Off Jill vocalist
Jessicka; for the rest of the tour,
Juan Alderete (formerly of
Racer X and
The Mars Volta) joined. In July 2018, Manson embarked on the
Twins of Evil: The Second Coming Tour in the US with co-headliner
Rob Zombie and special guest
Deadly Apples.
We Are Chaos (2019–2023) In March 2019, Manson announced that he was nearly finished recording his next studio album and that
country musician
Shooter Jennings was involved. Later that year, drummer
Gil Sharone announced he was leaving the band to pursue "other current and future projects", with former
Black Flag drummer
Brandon Pertzborn hired as his replacement. Manson also revealed that Bates is no longer involved with the group, and that the album would be produced by Jennings and feature contributions from his drummer Jamie Douglass. In July, Manson embarked on the
Twins of Evil: Hell Never Dies Tour in the US and Canada with co-headliner
Rob Zombie, followed by festivals and headline dates with support from
Deadly Apples. The band released their cover of
The Doors' "
The End" on
streaming music services in November, with a limited edition vinyl scheduled to be issued on March 6, 2020. The song was recorded for the soundtrack to the upcoming miniseries
The Stand, based on
Stephen King's
novel of the same name. Manson is set to appear in the miniseries. The band are set to appear as the opening act for Ozzy Osbourne during his
No More Tours II series, a North American tour beginning in May 2020. However the tour was eventually cancelled along with Manson's performances after
Ozzy Osbourne was diagnosed with
Parkinson's disease. On January 13, 2020, live bassist Juan Alderete (ex-
Racer X) was involved in a bicycle accident which left him with a
diffuse axonal injury, a type of
traumatic brain injury. A
GoFundMe page has been created to help cover the cost of his medical expenses. On April 29, Manson and Jennings confirmed they had finished work on the band's eleventh studio album, with both calling it a "masterpiece". On July 28, Manson announced that a new single titled "
We Are Chaos" would be released the following day. The next day, the track was released alongside the announcement of the band's upcoming eleventh studio album titled
We Are Chaos set for release on September 11, 2020. At the same time, the band revealed the album cover and the track list. The album debuted at number eight on the
Billboard 200, making it their tenth top ten release on the chart. In February 2021,
Loma Vista Recordings announced they would not promote or participate in the distribution of any future recordings released by the band, following former girlfriend
Evan Rachel Wood and various other accusations that the band's vocalist
sexually and psychologically abused them. In November 2021, former band member
Tim Skold announced he was again working on new material with Marilyn Manson. In May 2023, Marilyn Manson became active again on social media, posting two new pictures and announcing that there's "something new for you to hear".
One Assassination Under God (2024–present) In March 2024, it was announced the band would embark on an arena and amphitheater tour of North America with
Five Finger Death Punch. The tour began on August 2, and was interspersed with their own headlining shows. The band consisted of returning members Manson, Bates and Sharone, and new members
Piggy D. and
Reba Meyers. Their first single in four years, "
As Sick as the Secrets Within", was issued on the same day the tour began. "
Raise the Red Flag" was released as a single two weeks later, followed by "
Sacrilegious" in September. Their twelfth studio album,
One Assassination Under God – Chapter 1, was issued on November 22, A music video for "
One Assassination Under God" was released the same day. The music videos of all four songs were directed by Bill Yukich. The
One Assassination Under God Tour saw the band performing their own headline tour of Europe in February 2025, with a tour of the United States following in May, and subsequent tours throughout the year. They released a cover of
Phil Collins' "
In the Air Tonight" in April 2025. Bates announced in January 2026 that he had amicably parted ways with the live band in order to focus on his film score work, but said he would be "actively supporting" their upcoming release
One Assassination Under God – Chapter 2. The following month, the band announced the
Freaks on Parade Tour, a co-headlining tour with Rob Zombie. It will see both bands performing at arenas and amphitheaters throughout the United States in August and September with support from
The Hu and
Orgy. The band's former bassist and producer
Tim Skold announced his return to the live band in February 2026. Piggy D. and former
Black Light Burns guitarist
Nick Annis took over as live guitarists, following Meyers's departure to focus on solo work. ==Musical style==