the NachtKabarett
All Writing & Content © Nick Kushner Unless Noted Otherwise
Collaboration between Nick Kushner & Maxim Marusenkov
To Be Expanded Soon!
The symbol of the Mechanical Animals era is a capital letter "omega", with Manson's face within the center complete, with 15 computer keys on his forehead which serves both to signify that the world of "mechanical animals" is soulless and computerized: "But when the spirit is so digital / The body acts this way" ('Disassociative') as well as the recurring number 15.
Omega (literally "a big 'o'") is the last letter in Greek alphabet. In a figurative sense "the alpha and omega" means "the beginning and the end". This phrase is used in the Bible: "'I am the Alpha and the Omega,' says the Lord God..." (Rev. 1.8). Therefore the ending phrase of the album "this is my omega" means "this is my end."
It very likely refers to the biblical text, because at the beginning of the album's 15th Untitled track, the album's hero says: "In the end I became them and I led them", and the introduction to the Rock Is Dead tour of that era is called Inauguration of the Mechanical Christ.
Manson during the prelude of the 1998 Mechanical Animals touroutfitted as the era's symbol with his face at the center of Omega
Graphically in all languages the letter "o" resembles sun which symbolizes perfection. "A Sun without planets burning in circles" - is the inscription hidden behind the row of Omēga symbols in the album booklet. One of the most important images on the record is an astronaut who broke away from the space station and burned in sunlight. This image opens the first song of the album - Great Big White World, and in Disassociative it's detailed even further.
Altogether the motif of the "o" appears on the record three times. In Mechanical Animals it is said that Coma White was "as hollow as the 'o' in god." In Untitled all "mechanical animals" are characterized in this way, including the hero himself. Finally, in Posthuman Coma White is "a saint like Jackie-O".
The motif of perfection which is symbolically represented by the sun also figures in Posthuman: "She wants me to be / Perfect like Kennedy." Earlier this motif appeared in Mechanical Animals ("We were neurophobic / And perfect") and in Great Big White World ("I wish you / Were queen"). The motif of perfection will appear once again in The Last Day on Earth but now with bitter and sarcastic overtones: "We're trembling in our crutches / High and dead our skin is glass").
The theme of perfection is another recurring element within Mechanical Animals both facetiously with Omēga counteracted by the impossibly literal concept of perfection with Coma White (Click for detailed Analysis of Coma White on The NACHTKABARETT). The persona of Omēga was intended to represent the final evolution of the metaphorical ADAM of the Triptych. "This is my Omega" meaning the End of transformation when the ideal embodiment of who he originally strove to be. But in contrast to the internal sincerity this end of transformation gave rise to what would become the Antichrist Svperstar when Omega, what was intended to be Manson's ideal transformation thematically within the Triptych, was in stark reality the plastic and superficial antithesis of who he set out to become.