MARILYN MANSON Splits With INTERSCOPE

MARILYN MANSON has parted ways with longtime record label Interscope following the disappointing sales performance of the shock-rocker's latest album, entitled "The High End Of Low". "We've just been released from our record contract with Interscope so I think a lot of the creative control on which my hands were tied on a lot of choices — the music videos — things like that," Manson told U.K.'s Metal Hammer magazine. "And the first example is the newest video, they clearly wouldn't have allowed me to make that video. So we started writing new songs on the road — a bit like [David Bowie's album] 'Aladdin Sane' — I think people can expect a new record a lot sooner than we [expected].

When told that he doesn't seem like someone who wouldn't put his foot down with a label, Manson said, "You'd be surprised how much restraint my creativity had which ended up often times in my life, not want to make music because I was so restrained from the music that I wanted to make — what they would allow, they would put out, what ideas they would allow to be conveyed in these videos. At least half of my creative output has been squashed, so now I think people can expect a whole lot more."

Trent Reznor of NINE INCH NAILS signed MARILYN MANSON to his label Nothing Records, a vanity label of Interscope, in 1993. Nothing Records became defunct in 2004, and MARILYN MANSON remained signed solely to Interscope.

"The High End Of Low" sold 49,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 4 on The Billboard 200 chart. It has shifted 121,000 units to date, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

MARILYN MANSON's previous album, "Eat Me, Drink Me", opened with 88,000 units to land at No. 8. This marked a significant drop from the 118,000 first-week tally registered by its predecessor, "The Golden Age Of Grotesque", which entered the chart at No. 1 back in May 2003.

"The High End Of Low" was Manson's first album with longtime bassist Twiggy Ramirez since 2000's "Holy Wood".

Produced by Manson, Vrenna and Twiggy, "The High End Of Low" was recorded in Manson's Hollywood Hills studio. Manson said of the album, "I think my life definitely ended and began. The record sounds very final, but it's almost optimistic — though that feels like a strange word to use. It's a phoenix from the fire and a redemption resurrection."

The "censored" version of the "Arma-Goddamn-Motherfuckin'-Geddon" video can be viewed below. The clip was shot with director Delaney Bishop, a filmmaker and photographer based in Los Angeles. He has directed music videos for JURASSIC 5, CUT CHEMIST and ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK. Delaney has also worked on a twenty-minute short entitled "The Death of Salvador Dali" featuring Manson's ex-wife Dita Von Teese, a project which broke new ground in new media, as the film was made available for download through iTunes.