For a while I wondered if maybe I only really loved Antichrist Superstar and Mechanical Animals because I was a teenager when I got into them so I didn't listen to them for a few years to maybe just hold on to my memories. However, I decided to give them a spin again and my fears were unfounded, both of them hold up remarkably well. They don't resonate quite the way they did with me way back when because I'm no longer an angsty teenager, but they're both very well conceived and executed albums.

I personally think the decline started with Holy Wood though. I would say maybe a third of that album is decent to good, and the rest is pretty unimpressive. It definitely doesn't come close to its immediate forebears.

I still give each of his new releases a cursory listen out of gratitude for all the good times he gave me as a teenager and I'll do the same for this new one, hoping he somehow gets his act together. I don't see it happening, and if it doesn't at least I'll be able to immediately throw on The Last Day on Earth live/acoustic and wash the taste of the new shit away as soon as possible.