Marilyn Manson announced “One Assassination Under God – Chapter 2” on June 12. The nine-song album arrives August 14 via Nuclear Blast, once again co-produced and co-written with Tyler Bates. Lead single “Exit Wound” is out now on all streaming platforms.

“Exit Wound” is a glam-streaked goth-rock track with pointedly double-edged lines (“Take your picture at the scene of the crime / We got your victim and we’ve made up your mind”). Its video is filmed mostly live and captures Manson’s current lineup in action, including the returned Tim Sköld, who was part of the band once before between 2002 and 2008 and has been back on bass since the spring. The label credits RIZZ and Gretchen Lanham as directors.

The record continues the two-part arc Manson began in 2024. “Chapter 1” landed in November 2024, also on Nuclear Blast, and marked his first new music since 2020’s “We Are Chaos.” As with the first installment, one of Manson’s own paintings adorns the cover. With “Chapter 2,” he now draws a line under the concept – at least by his own reading.

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“I am proud to give you the second chapter of One Assassination Under God,” Manson wrote on social media. “This completes my story. I used each stone that was thrown at me to sharpen my edges. I outgrew purgatory and carved these songs into the skin of the world. As you listen I hope it forms a scar that you cannot forget.”

That narrative of stones, scars and a purgatory survived is no accident. Manson, born Brian Warner and now 57, had lost nearly his entire career after several women came forward with abuse allegations beginning in early 2021. In February 2021, his label Loma Vista Recordings and the agency CAA both cut ties with him. Manson denied all the allegations, filed countersuits in some cases, and several of the civil suits were later dismissed by judges. He stated that his “intimate relationships have always been entirely consensual with like-minded partners.” The allegations remain legally unresolved rather than settled on the merits; most were dismissed on procedural grounds.

Against that backdrop, the two-chapter comeback reads less as an artistic idea than as a carefully built return narrative, one in which every rejected allegation becomes a sharpened riff. Nuclear Blast is selling the diptych as a “creative resurgence,” and commercially it works: alongside several vinyl and CD variants there’s a limited box set with merch, plus retailer-exclusive pressings.

Shortly after the album drops, Manson hits the road. Together with Rob Zombie, he co-headlines the “Freaks on Parade” tour across North America, with Mongolian metal outfit The Hu and industrial veterans Orgy in tow. The 21 dates kick off August 20 in West Palm Beach and wrap September 20 in Concord, California. Both men know the format already from their shared “Twins of Evil” tour.

“One Assassination Under God – Chapter 2” is out August 14 via Nuclear Blast.

Tracklist:

1. Unalive
2. Don’t Answer The Door
3. Front Toward Enemy
4. All The Vilest Things
5. None of the Suns
6. Lucifer’s Teardrop
7. The Arsonist
8. Exit Wound
9. Enantiomorph