Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)
Composition and style
"GodEatGod" is the first song on the record. It opens with the sound of a focal-plane shutter in slow-motion capturing gunshots ringing in the background amid screaming onlookers before transitioning into the song. The song is driven by keyboards, synthesizers and a synth bass. "The Love Song" was described by Manson as about "America's romance with guns", and its title originated from his observation that "Love Song" is one of the most common titles in music. The lyrics are composed around an elaborate metaphor about guns. Manson explained: "I was suggesting with the lyrics that the father is the hand, the mother is the gun, and the children are the bullets. Where you shoot them is your responsibility as parents." The chorus is a rhetorical take on a popular American bumper sticker: "Do you love your God, gun, government?" Kerrang! described "The Fight Song" as a "playground punk anthem", and Manson revealed that its theme is Adam's desire to be a part of Holy Wood, saying that it is about "a person who's grown up all his life thinking that the grass is greener on the other side, but when he finally [gets there], he realizes that it's worse than where he came from." "Disposable Teens" is a "signature Marilyn Manson song" with a bouncing guitar riff composed of staccato articulation. Its lyrics juxtapose the disenfranchisement of contemporary millennial youth with the revolutionary idealism of their baby boomer parents' generation. The Beatles' influence is evident in this song; the chorus echoes the disillusionment of the White Album's "Revolution 1".
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