Marilyn Manson has officially released "Front Toward Enemy" across global streaming platforms. The track serves as the second single from his upcoming album, One Assassination Under God – Chapter 2 , due August 14 via Nuclear Blast Records. For casual listeners, it's a welcome return to the aggressive industrial metal that defined Manson's mid-'90s peak. For longtime fans, however, today's release feels like long-awaited vindication. To understand why, you have to go back to late 2024. When Manson ended his four-year public silence with One Assassination Under God – Chapter 1 , he also released the highly limited "Raise the Red Flag" maxi-CD. Hidden on that disc was an exclusive B-side titled in all caps: "FRONT TOWARD ENEMY." For more than a year, the song became something of a holy grail among collectors. Many fans believed it was simply too abrasive to fit the dark, introspective atmosphere of Chapter 1 , and speculation grew that it...
27 years ago, in an interview with Rolling Stone (March 6, 1997), Trent Reznor gave a good summary of what Marilyn Manson brought back to the music scene in the 1990's, which not only made him a controversial and misunderstood figure, but unique and successful as well.
When I was growing up, rock & roll helped give me my sense of identity, but I had to search for it. I remember I loved the Clash, but I was an outcast because you were supposed to like Journey. Before that, I loved Kiss. The thing these bands gave me was invaluable - that whole spirit of rebellion. Rock & roll should be about rebellion. It should piss your parents off, and it should offer some element of taboo. It should be dangerous, you know? But I'm not sure it really is dangerous anymore. Now, thanks to MTV and radio, rock & roll gets pumped into your house every second of every day. Being a rock & roll star has become as legitimate a career option as being an astronaut or a policeman or a fireman. That's why I applaud - even helped create - bands like Marilyn Manson. The shock-rock value. I think it's necessary. Death to Hootie and the Blowfish, you know. It's safe. It's legitimate.
Look at Marilyn Manson: They have no qualms about taking that whole thing on. The scene needs that, you know? It doesn't need another Pearl Jam-rip-off band. It doesn't need the politically correct R.E.M.s telling us, "We don't eat meat." Fuck you to all that. We need someone who wants to say, "You know what? I jack off 10 times a night, and I fuck groupies." It's not considered safe to say that now, but rock shouldn't be safe. I'm not saying I adhere wholeheartedly to all that in my own lifestyle, but I think that's the aesthetic we need right now. There needs to be some element of anarchy or something that dares to be different.