A Lyrical Analysis of Marilyn Manson's "FRONT TOWARD ENEMY"

"FRONT TOWARD ENEMY" was the third track released by Marilyn Manson on August 16th 2024 exclusively on the Raise the Red Flag maxi-CD single, which had a limited release of 3,000 copies that sold out in under 12 hours. Though the two previous singles were released accompanied by music videos, this third exclusive release was only the song as the third track on the singles album.

Musically it is perhaps the bands heaviest song since the 90's, especially Antichrist Superstar, and it even has certain sounds familiar to us from that album, such as "Little Horn" and "1996", though I would also include the single "Astonishing Panorama of the End Times". For those who have wanted a song that brings them back to that era, while at the same time holding up to the standards of a current and innovative sound, then this is the song you have been waiting for.

Song Lyrics

 

When I originally wrote this analysis, there was no official release of the lyrics to "FRONT TOWARD ENEMY", so I went by what I was able to find on genius.com. However, it was pointed out to me that all the online lyrics contain a few errors in the Bridge of the song, which were corrected for me by an inside source and this slightly altered my original interpretation. Therefore the lyrics below are the confirmed official lyrics.

[Intro]
Get up to fight! Get up to fight!
'Til my bruises are black and my face is swollen
Get up to fight! Get up to fight!
'Til the skin on my back is broken
Get up to fight! Get up to fight!
'Til my bruises are black and my face is swollen
Get up to fight! Get up to fight!
'Til the skin on my back is broken

[Verse 1]
Put your borrowed weapons down, show us your fist
You chiseled open the seventh seal, it's the reason I exist
I'm not just a cell lookin' for another prisoner
I got my story to tell, laws are for cowards, but rules are for men

[Pre-Chorus]
Get up to fight! Get up to fight!
'Til my bruisеs are black and my face is swollen
Gеt up to fight! Get up to fight!
'Til the skin on my back is broken

[Chorus]
Front toward your enemy
Front toward your enemy
No one's gonna fuck with us anymore
So what are you waiting for?
What are you waiting for?

[Verse 2]
Every rule that you made
Is comin' back to break you
Everyone that you faked
Is now fuckin' awake
Stop tryin' to dumb us down
Grass is deader on the other side
Better keep your casket closed
So you won't hear any laughter

[Pre-Chorus]
Get up to fight! Get up to fight!
'Til my bruises are black and my face is swollen
Get up to fight! Get up to fight!
'Til the skin on my back is broken

[Chorus]
Front toward your enemy
Front toward your enemy
No one's gonna fuck with us anymore
So what are you waiting for?
What are you waiting for?

[Bridge]
I'm brand new, not complicated and ugly
I've got my God, but you're still alone
I was too much for hell to swallow
So I was spit back out like a bone
What the world needs now is a savaging

[Interlude]
Get up to fight! Get up to fight!
Get up to fight! Get up to fight!
Get up to fight! Get up to fight!
'Til my bruises are black and my face is swollen
Get up to fight! Get up to fight!
Get up to fight! Get up to fight!
Get up to fight! Get up to fight!
'Til the skin on my back is broken

[Chorus]
Front toward your enemy
Front toward your enemy
No one's gonna fuck with us anymore
So what are you waiting for?
What are you waiting for?
Front toward your enemy
Front toward your enemy
No one's gonna fuck with us anymore
So what are you waiting for?
What are you waiting for?

[Outro]
So what are you waiting for?
What are you waiting for?

A Lyrical Analysis

[Title]

"FRONT TOWARD ENEMY" are the words written on the front of a Claymore mine. A Claymore mine is a directional anti-personnel mine used by the United States Armed Forces. The distinction between the front and the back is very important for Claymore, because it is a bomb that explodes in one direction, not in all directions. For this reason, if you want to strike your enemy, you direct the front of the mine towards the enemy so as not to have it strike you or anyone behind it. When the enemy is at killing distance, you press the trigger and the mine explodes out towards the front direction while you are at a safe distance behind.

"FRONT TOWARD ENEMY" also has a metaphorical meaning to keep your front toward your enemy, whether that enemy is a bad habit such as a drug addiction, or your next workout if you're trying to get in shape, or an instrument if you're trying to learn to play music, or your next cancer treatment. If you turn your back and run away from an obstacle or enemy you face, then you expose yourself to their attack, but if you face it head on and attack first, then you have a greater chance for a victory.

By Manson using this title, we immediately understand that this is a song where he is facing his enemy with the intention of fighting towards a victory, destroying every obstacle in his path.

[Intro, Pre-Chorus and Interlude]

Here we have an immediate call to action to fight, with the protagonist instigating the enemy to get him to fight. However, the injuries described are all skin related, since bruising, swelling, and breaking of the skin are surface related injuries. There is nothing about shedding your blood or breaking your bones. The back related injury where his skin is broken may indicate that there is a point where he turns his back on the enemy who in turn gets a few strikes on him. He doesn't expect to be physically injured to the point where he can no longer fight and face defeat, but he is willing to take a few punches and strikes before he turns towards his enemy and explodes with a vengeance.

[Verse 1]

This is not a war with weapons, but it is a war with fists, so the protagonist tells the enemy to put down his weapons and make a fist. A fist fight is a personal fight and it is about who can endure till the end.

In the Book of Revelation, the Seventh Seal cues seven angelic trumpeters: "And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets" (8:1-2). The seven angelic trumpeters in turn cue the seven bowl judgments and more cataclysmic events.

With the apocalyptic imagery invoked we may understand that the enemy has stirred up in the protagonist an inspiration to fight back in a very powerful way perhaps through music (seven trumpets) which the enemy apparently tried to take away from him, and through this music he regains the purpose for his existence.

The protagonist's revenge is not about just getting justice, but to tell his story.

The phrase "laws are for cowards, but rules are for men" is a direct quotation from a book called ZeroZeroZero: Look at Cocaine and All You See Is Powder. Look Through Cocaine and You See the World (2015) by Roberto Saviano and which was adapted in the 2019 Amazon Prime miniseries ZeroZeroZero. The book is a study of the business around the drug cocaine, covering its movement across continents. An Italian mafia boss states his moral philosophy in the book, among which is the following:

"Rules are rules. And rules are not laws. Laws are for cowards. Rules are for men. That's why we have rules of honor. Rules of honor don't tell you you have to be good, just, upright. Rules of honor tell you how to rule. What you have to do to handle people, money, power. Rules of honor tell you how to behave if you want to rule, if you want to fuck the guy above you, if you don't want to be fucked by the guy below you. There's no sense explaining them. Rules of honor exist, period. They evolved on their own, on and through the blood of every man of honor. How do you choose?"

In the context of the song, this quote from the book could indicate that the protagonist is playing by another rule book that is not about legal justice, but the justice that comes from his own moral philosophy that prevents him from doing what he finds his purpose and meaning in.

[Chorus]

This is not only a personal fight, but it is a collective fight, hence the "your", "us" and "you" and no longer just "my", "I" and "I'm". The protagonist is urging others like him or who stand behind him to also fight their common enemy, in order for that enemy to no longer fuck with them.

[Verse 2]

The enemy made rules, was fake, tried to dumb people down, but the people take their stand against him and will be happy when he is dead.

It should be noted that the word "fake" appears also in the song "Raise the Red Flag" ("Why pretend in a room full of fakes"). We can assume therefore that the enemy in both songs is the same, therefore there is a connection with both songs.

[Bridge]

Now that the protagonist has defeated his enemy, he is brand new, and no longer complicated and ugly. But what made him complicated and ugly?

With being brand new, the protagonist has his personal God, but the enemy is left alone.

The protagonist was spit out of hell like one would spit out a bone because he was "too much" for it. Again, it should be noted that similar imagery is in "As Sick as the Secrets Within" ("It's not so evil as much as it's hungry, I see these bodies and the bones picked clean").

The imagery so far indicates a redemption has taken place, maybe even a recovery from addiction. This redemption is something more internal than external. And if a redemption has taken place, then it is because he was probably very much like the enemy. This goes back to the struggle and looming danger we heard about in the song "As Sick as the Secrets Within".

A "savaging" is a vicious and brutal attack, and the context seems to indicate that the world needs this savaging against the enemy and all its dumbed down fakeness. It is what the protagonist is focused on.

Conclusion

It seems to me that the three singles Manson released on the Raise the Red Flag maxi-CD single are part of a bigger story and correspond with each other well. There is similar imagery and similar themes. I believe together they can be interpreted in any way the listener chooses to, as long as it is applied to some sort of battle or fight. If they do go together, then I would argue the fight is more internal and the enemy or the monster is a looming threat. This threat may be addiction, it may be depression, it may be any type of struggle a human being faces that stands in his way from achieving one's optimal self. For Manson the battle may be his addiction but also the slander and false media reports and cancelation he faces, and his fight is not with weapons but with his music and art and whatever else it takes. However, for someone else it may be something else. There can be more than one or two layers of interpretation to any of these songs, especially if in the context of the entire concept album and entirely different story is being told.

This is just my impression from listening to these three songs and analyzing them along with the two music videos. I expect my understanding to expand once everything is released, and I may need to make some corrections. Take what I say as you see fit.