Simply, without a big long spiel, this album is quite possibly one of the most stunning rock albums ever to grace the earth. Holy Wood is 20 tracks of music that is so wonderfully intense that it leaves you baying for more.
Fans of Marilyn Manson and anyone who has ever felt disaffected or dismayed with the state of the world should sit down and play this album with the volume as high as it can possibly go because it is quite literally a big middle finger on a CD in musical incarnation.
There is nothing on this album that Manson doesn't cover; gun-culture (namely the blistering attack on it in the powerful 'The Love Song'), obcession with celebrity, assassination (Kennedy, Lennon, etc.)
Some of his most powerful work to date can be found on this album, especially with regard to the anthemic 'Disposable Teens', a fist hammering industrial ballad devoted to the disposessed and unwanted.
Not all of the album is heavy and there are also some really beautiful tracks in which the melancholy and possibly even the hurt of Marilyn Manson himself seem to shine quietly through the lyrics (mind you, having just been blamed for the Columbine massacre, who wouldn't be upset?) An excellent, haunting example of this would be the powerful 'In The Shadow Of The Valley Of Death'
Musically diverse and with a huge number of obvious and more subtle facets, this album is everything that a Marilyn Manson fan could ask for and stands out as a powerful statement against the throw-away and often cruel society in which we live. With tracks like 'Disposable Teens', 'The Nobodies', 'President Dead' and many others, I would think it fair to say that this is quite possibly the most powerful Marilyn Manson album released to date and will certainly take some effort to beat.
Marilyn Manson, the essence of the message summed up on one CD. If you haven't already, you REALLY need to buy this album. Powerful, bold...you certainly wont be disappointed.