When Ohio transplant Marilyn Manson sprung out of the grimy music scene of South Florida in the early ‘90s, it signaled the return of the term “shock rock,” which had been missing since Ozzy Osbourne became more known for his antics than his music and Alice Cooper started focusing on his 5.3 golf handicap. Led by their fear-inspiring namesake and having garnered the praise and guidance of Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor from the outset, the band were never in danger of being anything but the real thing.

What has kept Marilyn Manson so intriguing throughout the years hasn't been the controversies initiated by religious protests or those folks who linked the music to inspiring teens to commit atrocities with firearms, it was the continual evolution of the music. From industrial-meets-metal (which took a full chapter from Reznor’s influence) to the David Bowie-aping glam-rock, the shifts in the group’s sound from album-to-album were enough to keep everyone who looked past the sensationalist headlines on their toes.

The career of Marilyn Manson – the singer – is often whittled down to pre- and post-Columbine by the mainstream media. Yet for music fans, there’s a whole catalog to maneuver through like some kind of auditory maze of blackness, broken hearts, fear-mongering, defiance and rebellion. Any of the aforementioned can be found not just within the bookends of one record, but sometimes the same song. Earlier this year, Marilyn Manson delivered their latest opus, Heaven Upside Down. Where does that one rank with their earlier work? Check out the gallery below to find out.

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