[1][2] In 1999, news media scapegoated the band for influencing the perpetrators of the Columbine High School massacre,[3] which the vocalist has claimed "totally shoved [my career] in the dirt".

[7] In August 2012, it was announced that Manson would play a fictionalized version of himself in a four-episode arc of the sixth season of TV series Californication.

[8] While filming its season finale, Manson met the series' score composer, Tyler Bates, and the two discussed a potential collaboration.

Bates later suggested that they hold further writing sessions at his home studio, which resulted in their composition of "Birds of Hell Awaiting" in "one spontaneous exchange".

[14] With the base tracks recorded, overdubbing took place over the following six months[9][15] between Manson's acting commitments on Sons of Anarchy and Bates scoring the 2014 television series Salem.

[22] Manson's Sons of Anarchy co-star Walton Goggins appears as a preacher on album track "Slave Only Dreams to Be King",[23] reciting two verses from James Allen's early 20th-century essay As a Man Thinketh.

Manson called himself "a man of few words" [on the record], opting to allow melody to be its primary focus, instead of using characters or extended metaphors to compose lyrics.

[40] The album was inspired by an Antonin Artaud book given to Manson by actor Johnny Depp about the life of the decadent emperor Heliogabalus.

[19] Lyrically, the album deals with mortality,[35] war, violence,[40] slavery and religion,[43] and includes references to Greek mythology[31] and German folklore, specifically the story of Faust and Mephistopheles.

[45] He has claimed that his voice can emit five different tones simultaneously,[40] and that mixing engineer Robert Carranza showed him that a recording of his vocals formed a visual pentagram when imported into a phrasal analyzer.

Designed by Manson with Willo Perron and Hassan Rahim, the set included the deluxe CD and white vinyl editions of the album and several exclusive items, including a grey cloth-bound individually numbered collectors box, five lithographs designed by artist Nicholas Cope, a fold-out 24-inch poster, album sleeves printed on full-color UV-coated stock and a Pale Emperor T-shirt.

[56] Music from the album was previewed almost nine months before its official release, when "Cupid Carries a Gun" appeared as the opening theme to the television series Salem from April 27, 2014 onward.

[14][57] A large portion of the album track "Killing Strangers" was featured in the film John Wick, which was released in cinemas on October 24.

[61] The band, which consisted of Bates and Paul Wiley on guitars, Twiggy on bass and Sharone on drums,[13] performed several new songs live for the first time in October and early November, when they played a handful of concerts in southern California.

[62] On Halloween night, they were joined onstage by actor Johnny Depp and Ninja from Die Antwoord for a performance of Manson's 1996 single "The Beautiful People" at the Roxy Theatre.

[70] In response to the album leaking online, it was made available to stream on the site Genius on January 12, eight days ahead of its official US release.

[79] The shoot, by photographer Terry Richardson, featured the pair wearing identical make-up and contained an explicit image in which Hugh is shown fondling his own genitalia.

Bates said he had prepared the band to function without him, anticipating a departure once obligations in the film and TV industry made his schedule too difficult for touring.

A music video for "The Mephistopheles of Los Angeles", directed by Francesco Carrozzini and featuring a cameo from actor Michael K. Williams, was released on May 11.

[90] This tour was scheduled to begin on June 9 in Salt Lake City and consist of 34 dates in Amphitheatres throughout North America, with Of Mice & Men supporting.

J.C. Maçek III of PopMatters praised the scope of musical variety found on the album, with particular acclaim given for its incorporation of alternative country elements.

[36] Fred Thomas of AllMusic noted its inclusion of blues influences, and said that this shift in musical direction resulted in the album sounding more sinister than any of the band's previous work.

[94] The record was featured in Loudwire as their editors' pick for the month of January 2015, where it was called a "satisfying listening experience from top to bottom".

[109] Drowned in Sound critic Dave Hanratty praised Bates' production and the album's consistency, writing "damned if the devil didn't bring his best tunes to this dance.

Corey Deiterman of the Houston Press called The Pale Emperor a "triumphant return to the songwriting principles that made him famous in the first place.

[113] Jeff Miers of The Buffalo News, who regarded The Pale Emperor as the band's first excellent post-millennial collection of music, praised its lyrical content, saying that Manson sounds "both inspired and disgusted [throughout], which is usually the tightrope he walks when he's doing his best work.

"[96] Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph compared the record to the early work of English gothic rock band Bauhaus, and said that while it was "undeniably effective [...] in small bursts," he found the whole "wearingly abrasive".

[117] Industry forecasters predicted that The Pale Emperor was on course for a top ten debut on the Billboard 200, with estimated first-week sales of around 42,000 units.

[140] This was the band's highest opening-week figure since Eat Me, Drink Me debuted at the same position with 88,000 copies in 2007,[141] and was their sixth consecutive top ten album.

[157] All lyrics are written by Marilyn Manson; all music is composed by Tyler BatesCredits adapted from the liner notes of the deluxe edition of The Pale Emperor.