The High End of Low - Development and Production

Development and Production

Initially, Manson revealed the recording session's for the band's seventh album would take place between March and May 2008, that two Eat Me, Drink Me b-sides may be included, and that he would again be working with Tim Skold, as well as Slayer's Kerry King and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Nick Zinner on the album; a demo of one song was also recorded during the tour (the song did not make the album's final cut), with Manson filling notebooks ideas for other potential lyrics and tracks. Also rumoured was a collaboration with James Iha, although this was never officially confirmed.

In December 2007 Tim Skold had departed from the band, due to the return of former bassist Twiggy Ramirez, who re-christened himself "Twiggy", dropping the serial killer surname. The reunion was announced in January 2008. Coincident with the announcement, Manson gave an exclusive interview to the now defunct fansite "The Heirophant", in which he revealed plans to record an album with Twiggy and Vrenna after the Rape of the World Tour ended.

In a February 2008 interview with Steppin' Out, Manson described the new album as, "very ruthless, very heavy, and very violent."

On October 19, 2008, Manson and Twiggy announced at the 2008 Scream Awards after party that the album would "sound more like Antichrist Superstar" and that the recording sessions are "pretty much done." It was also revealed that live guitarist Wes Borland would remain with the band while they toured in support of the record, something which did not materialize. In an interview with Spinner.com released the following day, Manson put forth an explanation of Twiggy's experience working on the album: "This record is the record we always wanted to make and is writing from a point of view that I've always written from lyrically. I don't think earlier on he had the opportunity to be damaged, and his soul to be trampled on by women as much as me. So now that his penis has been cut off metaphorically, and been smashed into fucking Sloppy Joe's, someone shit on his heart a thousand times, we tried to put a musical face to that." A statement by Manson that the band were considering releasing a song before the end of the year implied that the album was unlikely to be released in winter 2008, contrary to Manson's announcement in May of that year.

"I went through a tough period over Christmas, during which I learned the difference between love and dependence, and the difference between weakness and desire. And it made a big difference in my life.

So I came back on January 2, and I saw my only friends, which at this point is the band, and everyone asked me, "How're you doing?" And I said, "Well, I'm at the high end of low." And automatically I knew that that's what the record was going to be called."

In December 2008, Manson revealed the sonic qualities of three tracks. One was said to feature "a coven of witchy girls", the other "acoustic swampiness that harkens back to when was living in New Orleans", and the song Manson plays guitar on also features him "snorting something, whatever it might have been" as a percussive instrument. On March 10, 2009, a blog entry by producer Sean Beavan confirmed two additional titles, "15" and the rumored "Four Rusted Horses".

In a March interview with Kerrang!, Manson revealed that The High End of Low contains 15 songs, "15" being its closing track. He also claimed that the fourteenth track "Into The Fire"" is a "glorious epic" which Twiggy would be most memorable for as a guitarist. Manson also explained that the songs on the album are listed by the order they were written and recorded. He also revealed the title of another song, "We're from America", which was made available for free download through the band's website on March 27, 2009. The same month, five rough mixes of songs from the album were leaked to the Internet. Chris Vrenna has commented on the leaks, explaining that "I hate stealing of music in any form. If a band chooses to put tracks online, that is great. But, downloading unauthorized music is that same as walking into your local CD store and shoplifting the disc! I think true fans know that usually songs found online before the record's release are either rough mixes of tracks and will wait to hear the music in the way the artist intended."

On March 27, 2009, Metal Hammer released a blog describing two songs from The High End of Low, "Arma-goddamn-motherfuckin-geddon" and the previously unverified track "The Wow" (actually titled "WOW"). Later on April 7, 2009, Metal Hammer confirmed the titles of three new songs, "Blank and White", "Running to the Edge of the World" and "White Spider" (actually titled "Wight Spider"). The report also confirmed the leaked song "maybeharmfulifswallowed" has since been retitled "Leave a Scar".

On April 16, 2009, Marilynmanson.com was updated to include the track listing for The High End of Low, thus revealing three previously unreleased song titles: "Pretty as a Swastika", "Unkillable Monster" and "I Have to Look Up Just to See Hell". A splash page was also added to the website, depicting Manson holding a bundle of fluorescent lights against his head.