The High End of Low - Concept and Artwork

Concept and Artwork

" really defines the record, which is about falling from grace and trying to fit in and be accepted as a mortal or as a normal person when people don't see you as that. It's also about giving up what you are to prove that you love somebody more than you love yourself. When you get to that point you're unlovable. And for me, halfway through the record, you can hear it. It went from despair to anger, it's like passing through the stages of destruction and reconstruction."

Many themes permeate The High End of Low, mostly ones of violence like in the songs "Arma-goddamn-motherfuckin-geddon", "Pretty as a Swastika", "Blank and White", "I Want to Kill You Like They Do in the Movies"; pain: "Leave a Scar" and "Unkillable Monster"; politics in "We're from America"; love and other destructive emotions like in the songs "Devour" and "Running to the Edge of the World"; death in "Four Rusted Horses" and "I Have to Look Up Just to See Hell"; and self-realization/rebirth: "Into the Fire". The album is ultimately a closing of previous ideas, morals and the past. Manson has stated the whole album is influenced by film, particularly the track "I Want To Kill You Like They Do In The Movies". The High End of Low runs rampant with references to the number 15, a first since 1998's Mechanical Animals. These references include the album having 15 songs, the last of which is titled "15", the number 15 spanning across the MM logo on the back of the "We're from America" single, the fact there are 15 letters in the album's title, and that The High End of Low would be released roughly 15 years after the band's major label debut, Portrait of an American Family. Noted in an interview, Manson said he has been long obsessed with the number fifteen as it is the number of the devil in the tarot card deck.

The cover art for the album portrayed the face of Manson with red laser lights in his head, standing still looking at the camera next to a red-toned background. The back of the cover features a photo of Manson with a hat, with the track listing featured on the left side. The front cover was shot by Delaney Bishop and the back cover by Mike Riley. The inside photos were shot by Mike Riley and all Polaroids by Manson and Evan Rachel Wood.

The logo for The High End of Low appears to be based on the English logo for The Criterion Edition of the 1963 Akira Kurosawa film Tengoku to jigoku, which translates to 'Heaven and Hell', a lyrical theme in "Four Rusted Horses". As its title would suggest, "Arma-Goddamn-Motherfuckin-Geddon" contains numerous parallels to Biblical iconography. These themes, among others, pervade the song and video for the single, exploring the innate fascism of money, censorship and sensationalism of American culture. It is one of the most indicting tracks on the record with the single's video and imagery acting as a prelude to the new era's ethos. The '$' symbol with the video acts additionally as a veiled reference to Salvador Dalí, stemming from a pointed attack formulated on Breton's belief that Dalí had abandoned his artistic integrity and surrealist roots in the pursuit of fame and wealth. Furthermore, (and much like Manson) Dalí was met with accusations of being a Nazi sympathizer who held militaristic and fascist ideologies, due to his unashamed and open fascination with fascism.

The High End of Low is the first studio album by Marilyn Manson since their major label debut, Portrait of an American Family, not to feature a conventional title track. However the song "I Have to Look Up Just to See Hell" is essentially the album's title track, as "The High End of Low" is a recurring lyric in the song. Worth noting is the EP Smells Like Children, which also did not have a title track, however the title of this release was lifted from an unrecorded song of the same name.