I previously couldn’t stand Marilyn Manson. This album has changed my mind.

My preview copy came complete with a letter from Mr Manson himself, articulately explaining his attitude to his art, and rightly castigating the US media for demonising him in the wake of the Littleton, Colorado, high-school killings. Marylin Manson’s problem is that he deals in irony, never a big seller in the United States of Apple Pie. Nevertheless, white trash in dresses haven’t sounded this good since The New York Dolls.

The music is a cross between The Mission and the Normandy landings, with a hefty dose of mindless death metal thrown up for good measure. Material is included from the band’s three albums, as well as a cover of the Eurythmic’s ‘Sweet Dreams’ from the Smells Like Children EP.

Recorded during their Rock Is Dead tour, this is worth listening to for the intros alone: “Grahnd Rah-pids Mich-ah-ghan” and the like. It’s like Spinal Tap playing Munich in 1938. At one point he relates the wholesome tale of drowning in a sea of liquor, only to be washed up on a beach of cocaine, finally ending a lovely evening by being fellated by two cops. A few thousand American kids singing, “I Don’t Like The Drugs (but the drugs like me)”: no wonder middle-America is frowning.

Other highlights include ‘The Dope Show’, and ‘The Beautiful People’, and yes, it’s occasionally noisy and mindless – but aren’t we all?