Custom Reviews Inc.

I'm struggling to get the words out of my mouth. I'm not sure what to make of this...Eminem is back, and he's on fire, both commercially and critically. A new album, completely sober, and a change in producers gives way to a new Eminem, but is this the new Eminem, or the same old Slim Shady we met in '99?

Eminem's been up and down through his career. He's led the rockstar life in hip-hop, legal problems, domestic problems, drug problems, dead friends... and he's still popular, still here. Just look at the sales of Relapse. He was doing insane numbers over 2009, after taking 5 years off. How many rappers can do that? Not many.

So after scrapping Relapse 2 (a good look, he really sounded out of it on Relapse 1), Em gives us his Recovery. And to be honest, he took a major step backwards. He's clean, for the first time since Infinite. And he's positive, just like Infinite. And he sounds just like he does on Infinite, albeit with better production and guests.

Yep, this is the St. Anger of hip-hop. Now, let me explain myself. Unlike that travesty, it doesn't have god-awful production, or cheap manufactured backtracking to the earlier days... it just has the feeling of lowered standards.

Let's start with Eminem's flow. The accents are gone....yes. Now, in exchange for that, there's a fast-spitting, punchline heavy flow in it's place. Sounds good so far, huh? Yeah...uh no. Consider this: Eminem would have you waiting for the punchline on earlier albums...but this time, he gives it to you, without asking, and when he does, it's too obvious, so the great thing about a punchline, the "oh-did-he-just-say-that"  factor is gone... because the lines are so obvious. But let's give Eminem some credit, he's on point, and he's finally changed his subject matter, to a more positive vibe. It's refreshing, although I feel as if that he shouldn't be trying to sound overly hungry and desperate when he doesn't need to, leave it for the Myspace bum rappers.

Now, the production is different, but also, a bit weak. I love the groove of Won't Back Down, it's sick and makes the song more epic, but when the song reaches the "turn me down, turn me up" line... someone screwed up there. Why turn down the whole track all at once, out of the blue, and totally ruin the line? Everything else feels like a massive step down, with a few shining highlights here and there. First off, Just Blaze....stop using memes for beats. With that said, Space Bound has a captivating feel to it, the acoustic guitar riffs were something I did not expect to hear on a rap album, much less an Eminem album. Everything else, though...just seems average. For Eminem, a guy who has relied on triple-A production for his entire major label career to bring it down to subpar levels on this album is truly disappointing.

While discussing this album with my friends on Facebook, a lot of them tend to say this was his best album. For the most part, it can be agreed on that it is his best album...since 2004. Compared to everything before then, and it doesn't fare too well.

Bottomline: Lower your standards if you want to get something mind-blowing. This is 2010 classic status...but it's really disappointing, to be honest.