A rock opera and a concept album, Antichrist Superstar was the first installment in a trilogy which included succeeding releases Mechanical Animals (1998) and Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) (2000).

The central storyline on the album revolved around a supernatural being who seizes all power from humanity in order to initiate an apocalyptic end event; a populist demagogue who is driven solely by resentment, misanthropy, and despair, he uses his newfound position to destroy the world.

The record can be seen as a social critique, utilizing this premise as a metaphor for the perceived fascist elements of the conservative political movement and the Christian right in North America.

Nearly every North American venue the band visited was picketed by religious organizations, predominantly because of unfounded, exaggerated claims of onstage drug use, bestiality, and Satanic rituals, including animal and even human sacrifice.

Along with the remaining members of Marilyn Manson—Twiggy Ramirez, Madonna Wayne Gacy, and Ginger Fish—Nine Inch Nails guitarists Robin Finck and Danny Lohner and drummer Chris Vrenna participated.

[9] Manson has admitted to heavily experimenting with prescription painkillers—including forms of morphine sulphate and hydrocodone—during recording; he also claimed he regularly inserted sewing needles underneath his fingernails to test his pain threshold.

[19] The central storyline of the album revolves around a supernatural being—a demagogic rockstar—who seizes all political power from humanity in order to initiate an apocalyptic end event.

[22] The album is a social critique which utilizes this premise as a metaphor for the perceived fascist elements of the conservative political movement and the Christian right in North America.

[16] After the release of Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) in 2000, Manson revealed that Antichrist Superstar formed a conceptual trilogy alongside both the aforementioned album and 1998's Mechanical Animals.

In the first half, Manson's vocals are rendered deadpan using several layers of microphone filters while it is altered in the second with a vocoder to augment a Mellotron played over a pulsing sinus rhythm.

[30] Images in the booklet consist of various medical diagrams from Henry Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body, Kabbalah symbols, and a visual worm-to-angel metamorphosis,[30] references to verses one through five of Revelation 12, as well as liner notes—a note found under the lyrics of "Irresponsible Hate Anthem" claim the song was recorded live on February 14, 1997, despite the album being released in October 1996.

Mistaking the standing figure for a naked woman Lieberman denounced, "These records and their corporate sponsors are telling our children it's the season of senseless violence, hopelessness and the most awful ill will toward each other, particularly women.

[59] "Long Hard Road Out of Hell", featuring backing vocals from Sneaker Pimps vocalist Kelli Ali,[60][61] was released on the soundtrack to Spawn in August.

directed the final music video created for Antichrist Superstar: "Man That You Fear",[44] whose concept was adapted from the plot of Shirley Jackson's 1948 short story "The Lottery", and contained aesthetic and symbolic references to the 1989 Alejandro Jodorowsky film Santa Sangre.

[70][71] Manson still enraged conservatives and the Christian Right with near-nightly concerts wherein he wiped his buttocks with the flag of the United States, tore Bibles apart, and performed self-mutilation.

Depending on venue size, the backdrop consisted of a stained glass tableau that depicted Jesus flanked by figures impaled on spears or, alternatively, Saint Michael the Archangel slaying the dragon during the War in Heaven from the 9th verse of the twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation.

Manson's costume changes were limited between his signature elastic back brace matched to a jockstrap over a G-string, a pair of thigh-high fishnet hosiery attached to a garter belt and calf-high leather boots used for most of the show alternating to a black suit and tie over a red dress shirt for performances of the title song.

[91] A VHS concert film entitled Dead to the World was released on February 10, 1998,[92] and debuted at number one on Billboard's Top Music Videos, eventually spending a year on the chart.

M. Tye Comer, in reviewing for CMJ New Music Monthly, described the record as a "magnificent ... aural skull-fuck", writing that Marilyn Manson "[took] in all the angst, hellfire and damnation one band [could] ingest, then [released] it in a fierce scatological display of apocalyptic sound and fury."

"[102] Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune complimented the album's production,[95] as did Jim Farber of Entertainment Weekly, who also praised its "ambitious" concept, even as he criticized the band's sound as derivative of other industrial rock acts: "[E]ach riff could've fallen right off an old Skinny Puppy LP.

"[97] Writing for Spin, Ann Powers applauded the album's concept and the quality of the songwriting, saying: "Until now, Manson's ideas carried more weight than his music, but Antichrist Superstar's sound matches the garish grandiosity of his arguments.

Its 16 songs rock like '70s Sabbath-style metal, but harder; the arrangements echo Queen in operatic scope but are more intense; the mood owes its vampiric chill to Bauhaus, but [Marilyn Manson] actually bites the vein.

However, he was critical of Reznor's production, saying: "Though the sonic details make [the album] an intriguing listen, it's not as extreme as it could have been—in particular, the guitars are surprisingly anemic, sounding like buzzing vacuums instead of unwieldy chainsaws.

"[28] Even less impressed, Robert Christgau dismissed the record as a "dud"[103] and later compared it to the music used by the United States military to psychologically harass Manuel Noriega during Operation Nifty Package.

She went on to hypothesize that: "Marilyn Manson offer total escapism as a true alternative, complete with carefully crafted gloom wear (no baggy shorts allowed), a frontman who blatantly begs to be in the spotlight and lyric imagery rivaling that of the best slasher movies.

[7] In December 1996, the co-directors of Empower America Republican Secretary of Education William Bennett and Democrat Senator Joseph Lieberman, organized a bipartisan press conference, along with Secretary of Pennsylvania State C. Delores Tucker, wherein they questioned MCA—the owner of Interscope—president Edgar Bronfman Jr.'s ability to head the label competently whilst profiting from "profanity-laced" albums by artists such as Tupac Shakur, Snoop Doggy Dogg and Marilyn Manson.

"[107] In November 1997, the band found itself the target of congressional hearings, led by Senator Joseph Lieberman and Representative Sam Brownback, to determine the effects, if any, of violent lyrics on young listeners.

[109] At this subcommittee, Lieberman once again criticized the band's music, calling it "vile, hateful, nihilistic and damaging", and repeated his request that Seagram—then-owner of MCA—"start ... disassociating itself from Marilyn Manson."

[citation needed] In 2008, Consequence of Sound identified Antichrist Superstar as a modern classic in their "Dusting 'Em Off" feature, due to its counter-cultural and social impact during the late '90s.

[citation needed] Record Collector included Antichrist Superstar in their extensive list "10 Classic Albums from 21 Genres for the 21st Century", in the metal category.