As their first release following the success of their breakthrough album, 1996's Antichrist Superstar, Mechanical Animals' themes primarily deals with the trappings of fame and drug abuse.

A rock opera and concept album, Mechanical Animals is the second installment in a trilogy which included Antichrist Superstar and 2000's Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death).

[8] In July 1998, after having contributed guitar work to 12[N 1] of the album's 14 tracks, Zim Zum left the band under amicable terms to pursue his own solo project.

[11] Much like David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust, he falls down to earth, is captured, placed with a band called The Mechanical Animals and turned into a rock star product.

He has become numb to the world, either lost or high in outer space or the Hollywood Hills, through excessive drug use as a coping mechanism with his life as a product of his corporate masters.

[20] Further, though Antichrist Superstar and Mechanical Animals made sense as individual concept albums on their own, there was a hidden overarching story running through the three releases.

In transitioning from Mechanical Animals to Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death), Manson admitted that the character of Omēga, "[...] was a ruse to lure commercial mall-goers into the web of destruction – I've always planned that from the beginning.

Mechanical Animals marked a major shift away from the abrasive and aggressive industrial and alternative metal styles of the band's previous work.

[8] Rolling Stone noted the songs are marked by shimmering, flamboyant guitar grooves and strong melodic hooks while the lyrics "trade the topic of teen satanism for drug-addled space themes and sci-fi love stories", reflecting "Manson's self-proclaimed new 'glitterati' lifestyle.

[8] However, both Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly noted that while the album drew from glam rock, it did not revel in the "naughty-boy insouciance" and playful hedonism of the genre despite numerous references to drugs, decadence and lurid sexual escapades.

The song "Great Big White World" raised concerns, among some groups, of possibly being a racially motivated reference until Manson himself cleared up the rumors by stating that it was about cocaine.

[24] Interscope neither confirmed nor denied that the leak originated from them but joined Hole's label, DGC Records, in issuing a cease and desist order to WXRK on August 3.

His genitalia are covered by a foam latex appliance to create the androgynous appearance of the alien figure he calls Omēga, which, the singer explained, represents "sexlessness and vulnerability," in addition to his own "affection for prosthetic limbs.

It is incidentally the cover for an album of the same name by Omēga and the Mechanical Animals, a fictitious band composed of characters played by the members of Marilyn Manson.

The shock of the image was increased because it looked like a real photograph.. As early as August 14, 1998, a month before the release, the three largest retailers in the United States—K-Mart, Wal-Mart and Target—refused to stock the album citing the offensive cover and the expectation that it will carry a Parental Advisory sticker for violating their policy of not selling material with explicit lyrics or content.

[41] However the planned summer European leg was scrapped and the tour's launch date was rescheduled to October 25, 1998, after drummer Ginger Fish became ill with mononucleosis.

[51] The first two performances of the Rock Is Dead Tour were canceled after Manson suffered a hairline fracture on one of his ankles during the final show with Hole at The Forum in Los Angeles.

Now he understands first-hand that stardom sucks, yet while he lifts a platform boot against its phony fat ass he still can't help reveling in the excess.

"[63] Of the record's musical direction Walters noted, "Flexing far more range than rage, Manson's feminization shifts his vocal power center from a diseased gut to a broken heart.

[...] Guitars roar and whine, bass booms, drums race, and synths twitter with a tweeness that's gonna turn Durannie grannie Nick Rhodes's gray roots green.

"[63] USA Today praised that "Manson and producer Michael Beinhorn have rediscovered the adrenalin in '70s glam-rock, sprinkling Gary Glitter and Ziggy Stardust over Gothic theatrics.

The creamy synth sound and drugged-out lyrics that dominate Manson's latest CD prove that two antithetical '80s musical genres—heavy metal and new wave—can indeed be fruitfully combined.

"[65] David Browne of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "Looking back in mascara'd anger, Manson and [producer Michael] Beinhorn have fashioned music steeped in glam rock and concept-album bombast but updated with a crunching intensity [...] He layers the songs with cooing backup singers, electronica burbles, skulking guitars, and synths at their most decadently new wavy.

"[23] Lorraine Ali of the Los Angeles Times commented "songs swagger with lipstick-wearing attitude, have fun with sleazy subject matter and actually convey some (gasp) human emotion [...] This album is the first time we actually experience Manson as a band, not a phenomenon filtered through Reznor's mixing board wizardry or a freak show accompanied by a soundtrack.

Where the Antichrist Superstar game plan was about gaining notoriety through outrage, rather than winning souls over on musical grounds, Mechanical Animals aims straight for the singalong heart of stadium-land.

"[62] Spin magazine noted the record is "essentially mining the same agitprop territory and 'premillennial' confusion that hipster, highbrow heroes such as Alec Empire and Tricky take for granted.

[citation needed] In 1999, American music journalist Ned Raggett listed Mechanical Animals 78th in his "The Top 136 Albums of the Nineties".[74][importance?]

[82] Although critically acclaimed, Mechanical Animals was initially not too well received by longtime fans who complained about the wilfully radio-friendly sound of the album and surmised that Marilyn Manson had "sold out".

I think that, and what happened at Columbine, which really affected him emotionally, meant that he never made an album up to the standard of Mechanical Animals or Antichrist Superstar again.

The Manson album dealt with songs of love and alienation, while the Mechanical Animals disc contained anthems of sex and drug use.