However, the release was delayed by numerous events, most notably the death of Marilyn Manson's father, Hugh Warner, who died during production and to whom the album was later dedicated.

The record has many of the musicians who performed on the band's previous album, The Pale Emperor (2015), including the producer Tyler Bates and the drummer Gil Sharone.

Manson issued three other cover versions on soundtracks during the album's promotional cycle: "Stigmata", "God's Gonna Cut You Down" and "Cry Little Sister".

[4][5] In July 2016, Manson received the 'Icon Award' at the APMAs, where he revealed several details about the follow-up, such as its working title of Say10 and a tentative Valentine's Day release date.

[19] Despite initially suggesting that longtime bassist Twiggy would contribute to the writing and production of the album, Manson later confirmed that he was invited but did not participate during sessions at Bates's recording studio.

According to Manson, after listening to pre-recorded basslines performed by Bates, Twiggy responded by saying he would be unable to "play them any better, and that the record sounded great [as it was]".

"[21] He also said: I wanted the album to be a platform for Manson to return to journalism, and write about the stuff we talk about, which is the sickness and passivity that is permeating the annals of society.

The music is imbued with frustration, sadness, and anger about all of this, and to explore this landscape effectively, the sounds and the riffs needed to be more cutting and abrasive than The Pale Emperor.

[27] Lyrical themes and subject matter on the record range from politics, violence, sex and romance,[12] chaos and isolation,[23] and capitalism, religion, drugs, paranoia, fear and mental illness.

[8] "We Know Where You Fucking Live" was the first song Manson and Bates recorded for the album;[10] its lyrics reference state surveillance and drone warfare.

"[42] Numerous publications hypothesized whether 6:19 referred to a June 19 release date, a Bible verse, or the Eat Me, Drink Me track "If I Was Your Vampire",[43] which features the lyric "6:19 and I know I'm ready".

[50] "In an era where mass shootings have become a nearly daily occurrence, this was an act of theater in an attempt to make a statement about how easily accessible semi-automatic weapons are, and how seeing them has become normalized.

The band initially included Manson on vocals with Bates and Paul Wiley on electric guitars, Twiggy on bass and Sharone on drums.

[64] On October 25, Manson announced he had "decided to part ways" with Twiggy after the bassist was accused of sexual assault by former girlfriend Jessicka Addams, who was the vocalist for alternative rock band Jack Off Jill.

[67] Alderete's first show with the band, at the 2017 Ozzfest Meets Knotfest festival in San Bernardino on November 5, found Manson performing in a wheelchair as a result of injuries he sustained earlier in the tour.

[71] Created by director Tyler Shields,[72] it featured images of Manson holding a bloodstained knife while standing above a decapitated corpse lying in a pool of blood.

Numerous publications noted the corpse was dressed in similar clothing to the kind regularly worn by Donald Trump—a suit and red tie.

[79] A series of advertisements created by Canadian pop artist Alex Kazemi to promote the album on Instagram were leaked online in late September, but were deemed too graphic to be used on the image hosting service.

[81][82] A cover of "God's Gonna Cut You Down" – recorded during the Heaven Upside Down sessions[35] – was released on December 8 when it featured on the soundtrack to 24 Hours to Live.

[86] Yukich also directed the music video for the band's cover version of Gerard McMahon's "Cry Little Sister", released in June and recorded for the soundtrack of The New Mutants.

[104] Several publications said it continued a creative resurgence that began with their previous release, including AllMusic, which described it as a more satisfying album than the predecessor.

[97] This sentiment was echoed by both Loudwire,[105] and The Boston Globe, which said: "No one expected this band to be doing some of its best work 20 years after it first shook up the zeitgeist, but here it is, continuing to evolve while toning down its more dated or cartoonish aspects.

"[29] Bloody Disgusting said it was their best release since Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death),[12] and Loudwire included it on their list of the best hard rock albums of 2017.

[106] Consequence of Sound commented on Manson's stage injury: "Had the worst happened, Heaven Upside Down is the kind of career-defining record that [he] just might want to leave as his last great opus anyway.

Clash commended the quality of songwriting, complimenting the band for mixing various styles from their discography while saying the record fused three distinct genres from their previous work—the industrial of Antichrist Superstar, the glam rock of Mechanical Animals, and the blues of The Pale Emperor.

[109] The List made a similar point while comparing its lyrical content to Grand Guignol,[110] a term used to describe graphic, amoral horror entertainment.

[111] Mark Beaumont of Classic Rock called it an astute album, saying the band "update and renovate the goth-glam dazzle of Mechanical Animals and Antichrist Superstar to better ram home [Manson's] top-line points: that religion is a pointless poison, politicians are society's true Satans and that fighting and fucking are the only reasoned responses to the current countdown to the Book of Revelations [sic] apocalypse that the world has chosen democratically for itself.

[47] Both Crack Magazine and PopMatters complimented the inclusion of punk elements, which the latter said helped the album match the intensity of the band's earlier work, but they were both critical of the lyrics.

[124] The record went on to peak in the top ten of multiple European markets, including Austria,[125] the Czech Republic,[126] Finland,[127] Germany,[128] Greece,[129] Slovakia,[130] and Switzerland.

[137] All lyrics are written by Marilyn Manson; all music is composed by Tyler BatesNotes Credits adapted from the liner notes of Heaven Upside Down.