As I write this, this album is still fairly recent.
I can't say that I had high expectations for this album, considering that his past 3 albums fell pretty flat with me. But I was surprised. I honestly don't see a lot of relation to The Marshall Mathers LP. In it, he was young, much more aggressive, angry, and the whole album retained that feeling. This album does have tense moments (Bad Guy, So Much Better) but it also has a share of lighter songs (Love Game, So Far)
Most songs are relatively memorable in some way or another, although there are definitely some songs that just feel like songs that should have been on Recovery (Monster, Evil Twin, Stronger Than I Was)
The last one probably being my least favorite track on the album (it's an incredibly boring ballad track, and most of it features Em singing rather than rapping. I don't know. It just doesn't work with Eminem.
The sister song is arguably Headlights, which is Eminem's apology to his mother, it's kind of corny, but, you know, I enjoy it for what it is.
This album has a few tracks that use 60s/70s rock song samples as a foundation, most notably, Berzerk, which was one of the bigger singles of the album, the track definitely has a "Beastie Boys in the License to Ill era" kind of feel. It even samples the artists. And I don't really know, I like this track, but for some reason it just doesn't work with Eminem, in my opinion, so I don't really know what to make of it other than "it kind of feels unfinished in a way". So Far, another song with a rock sample, is probably one of my favorites. It just has a fun, laid back kind of feeling to it. Other songs that use these samples include Rhyme or Reason and Love Game. Both of which I enjoy, although, in the latter, Kendrick Lamar is kind of annoying to me.
The singles include the aforementioned Berzerk, Survival, Monster and Rap God
Also, Legacy just sounds like it should have been a single, but it isn't. I do enjoy that song, despite the chorus, the singer actually sounds like she is going to throw up. I don't know it's weird. Anyways.
Survival was made to promote Call of Duty Ghosts, and if you know me, you know exactly how I feel about the series, however, this song is pretty good, it has some of the best lyricism on the album, and it has a pretty solid, powerful beat. Oh, I also have to mention, Eminem doesn't even play(modern) video games. lolmoney.
Monster is just a bit too poppy for me, (it features Rihanna) and this song is definitely one that I would skip
The final single is Rap God. I don't like this one, The entire thing just feels like a "Hey, look at me, I can rap" kind of song. And while his flow is pretty impressive in this one, it's a forgettable song to me.
Before I finish up the review, I should talk about Bad Guy, which is a sequel to Stan, from Marshall Mathers LP, from the perspective of Stan's brother Matthew. It's a good concept, but I can't say that I enjoy it too much, and it kind of goes on for too long.
I know I kind of rambled a bit, but I enjoyed this album. I don't think that it compares to any of his first 4 albums, but it's a great effort since we haven't had a single good album from him since 2002's Eminem Show.It definitely has low points, but overall, it was a pretty solid comeback.
Overall rating: 6.5/10
Favorite track:Legacy/So Far. 2 totally different songs, but I enjoy them a lot.
Least favorite track: Stronger Than I Was
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