There is a point in One Assassination Under God – Chapter 2 where the language of survival finally becomes the language of retaliation. “The Arsonist” is that point. The song is not simply about having survived an attempt to destroy you. It is about what happens afterward, when the person who has been burned decides that the fire did not finish him and that the scars it left behind have become part of his strength. Manson himself described the song as the moment when the narrative of the two chapters “crystallizes into a battle stance,” and, referring to the painting he created for it, said that the “burned scar tissue” had formed into armor. That description gets very close to the heart of the song. The fire has not disappeared. It has changed him. The title is important because Manson does not call the song The Survivor or The Victim . He calls it "The Arsonist." An arsonist deliberately starts a fire, and this changes the entire perspective of the song. The speaker is no...
A little over one week since Marilyn Manson released "Raise the Red Flag" on August 16th, it hit 2 million views on YouTube on August 24th.
That same day, during a sold out headline show in Calgary, Alberta at the Grey Eagle Event Centre, he performed his new song before a live audience for the first time as the ninth song following "Disposable Teens".
It was during this show that Marilyn Manson also performed "The Reflecting God" as an Encore for the first time since 2018.
The music video for his previous single released on August 2nd, "As Sick as the Secrets Within", currently has 3.6 million views on YouTube and continues to be performed by Manson after "The Dope Show".
Watch "Raise the Red Flag" and "The Reflecting God" live performance from Calgary below: