Antichrist Superstar Tracklist
Antichrist Superstar is the second full-length studio album by American rock band Marilyn Manson. It was released on October 8, 1996 in the US through Nothing and Interscope Records. The record’s success in mainstream charts propelled the band to a household name and overnight turned its frontman into an bonafide rock icon. The band’s anti-Christian stance as well as the transgressive and confrontational nature of their music, performance and appearance, led to numerous protests from religious and civic groups such as the American Family Association.
The album’s concept is that of a rock opera, and the first installment in a trilogy that includes Mechanical Animals and Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death). After the release of Holy Wood, Manson revealed that the over-arching story within the trilogy is divulged when listening in reverse chronological order. Holy Wood, therefore, begins the story, followed by Mechanical Animals, and concluding with Antichrist Superstar.It was recorded at Nothing Studios in New Orleans and produced by the band’s frontman and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails(
The album’s title is a takeoff on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1971 musical Jesus Christ Superstar, and the album itself is divided into three cycles telling the story of the Worm rising to power and then turning to destruction and nihilism:
The Heirophant – consisting of tracks 1 to 4, speaking of the suffering of the Worm and his wish to be one of the powerful and Beautiful people;
Inauguration of the Worm – from track 5 to 11, which tells the story of the Worm morphing into an angel and growing in power;
Disintegrator Rising – from track 12 to 17, in which the Worm becomes a nihilistic and destructive being, seeking to bring the end of the world that created him.
The two last cycles are named in reference to two films by avant-garde filmmaker Kenneth Anger: Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome and Lucifer Rising.
The album, despite containing a gap of silence a few minutes long, is cyclical, as both opening and closing seconds include the distorted phrase “When you are suffering, know that I have betrayed you.” When the album is placed on loop, the pacing between the sentences matches that of the additional distorted recitation found in the preceding hidden track.
