Marilyn Manson promises "darkness" on upcoming tour

Marilyn Manson held a press conference in France recently in which he talked about the tour plans in support of his upcoming album, Eat Me, Drink Me. Manson will kick off a co-headlining North American tour in late July with Slayer and promised that it won't exactly endear him to moral watchdogs: "There was a book when I was a kid called Satan is Alive and Well and on Planet Earth, and this tour lets you know exactly where to find him. I wanted to make a tour that was really bringing back, to me, the darkness of music."

The dates and venues for Manson's tour with Slayer have yet to be announced. He did indicate that the tour will be highly theatrical, in the vein of the stage show for his 1997 album, Mechanical Animals.

Manson told a French newspaper that his divorce from stripper Dita Von Teese destroyed him psychologically but provided subject matter for the album, which is due out on June 5th.

The 38-year-old Manson has since found a new soulmate in 19-year-old actress Evan Rachel Wood. His relationship with her was reportedly the major factor in Von Teese's exit.

Meanwhile, the start of production on Manson's debut as a feature film director, Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll, has been pushed back to the fall.