Reviewing Eminem’s Latest Album

Album Review-Revival by Eminem
By Gabe Guo
On Friday 15, 2017, Eminem, one of the greatest rappers to ever live, released his new album, Revival. Upon its release, people had mixed reactions to the album, some calling it a disaster, others calling it a masterpiece. Personally, I thought that the album was pretty decent. Of course, it was no Marshall Mathers LP, but then again, not every album is the fourth-fastest selling solo music album in American history. Once again, Eminem changes his voice and flow on this album. This album is generally more introspective and thoughtful than Eminem’s previous works, with Mathers tackling topics such as politics, love, fatherhood, and drug addiction. Of course, there are a few shock rap tracks sprinkled in here and there, but they do not constitute for a majority of the album, as would have been on his previous albums, like The Slim Shady LP. In terms of beat production, the majority of the instrumental tracks hearkened back to Eminem’s rap rock roots, with a few trap-style beats on the album’s earlier tracks.
The first song on the album, “Walk on Water”, is a piano-driven ballad featuring Beyonce. This song was the first to be released from the album, and it was performed on SNL on November 18th. The subject matter concerns the MC’s insecurity at this stage of his career. The emotional material is genuine, but it does sound borderline whiny. While Eminem does a thorough job of expressing his self-doubt, that is perhaps the downfall of this track. You will be hard-pressed to find a more self-deprecating rap song in 2017. However, he is speaking from the heart, which always takes courage to do. So kudos to him for that, whiny or not.
On the next two tracks, “Believe” and “Chloraseptic”, Eminem tries to adopt the new “trap” style of hip hop music, rapping in triple meter. While he sounds technically and verbally proficient on these songs, the style does not quite fit him.
At this point, the album takes a politically charged turn, with the track “Untouchable”. It concerns race relations between black and white in the U.S. Eminem does a good job of portraying the struggle and conflict with this one, but he does seem to drone on at points, as the song goes on in excess of six minutes.
The next track, “River”, features Ed Sheeran for the hook. It tells the story of a broken love triangle that culminates in an abortion. This track was pretty good, with much credit going to Sheeran’s beautiful voice.
Next up is “Remind Me”, the obligatory shock value, rap rock track. The song is energetic, but the lyrics are totally wacky and NSFW.
The following track, “Like Home”, is one of the strongest tracks on the album. Featuring Alicia Keys, Eminem goes on a full-blown diss of President Donald Trump. He likens Trump to a Nazi terrorist, and does an exceptional job of making the POTUS look like a fool. Although on previous albums, Eminem would routinely bash the people of America, on this song, he makes it clear whose side he is on: the citizens of the United States.
The next track, “Bad Husband”, featuring X Ambassadors, is equally strong. It features a strong beat to go along with some strong verses. In this song, the rapper finally apologizes to his ex-wife, Kim. He raps about his love-hate relationship with her and his regrets at not treating her better. He sounds repentful on this one, and it is a huge improvement from his 2000 song, “Kim”, where he screams about murdering Kim for a whole six minutes. In my opinion, on every album, you can hear Eminem growing up a little bit, and this song is a prime example of that.
The next song, “Tragic Endings”, featuring Skylar Grey, shares a common theme of failed love and insecurity. This is also a decent, heartfelt song.
The rest of the album was okay, save for the last two tracks: “Castle” and “Arose”. These are easily the best two songs on the album, because they deal with real, sensitive topics. “Castle” is written as Eminem’s letters to his daughter, Hailie, over a span of twelve years. In each verse, Eminem goes forward in time, starting from December 1st, 1995, and ending on December 24th, 2007. He details the struggles of his life, from taking care of his daughter to his musical career. The song ends with his drug overdose. This story continues with “Arose”, where he talks about his life’s regrets, particularly his drug use. He addresses each of the important people in his life, from his mother to his best friend, telling them things he wishes he had told them. He tells this tale from the perspective of his hospital bed, where he ended up after his drug overdose. But, midway through the song, he realizes that he must right these wrongs and not leave them as regrets. He raps, “I’m tryna rewind time like a tape / Find an escape, make a beeline, try and awake / From this dream, I need to re-find my inner strength / To remind me, even if a steep climb I must take / To rewrite a mistake, I’m rewinding the tape”. Hence, the second half of “Arose” is a re-rendition of the second half of “Castle”, in which he proclaims his plans to make his future better and atone for his mistakes. In this portion of the song, he flushes his drugs down the toilet and promises to release better musical albums.
And this concludes Revival. Overall, the album had a lot of good moments to go with some mediocre tracks. It shows Eminem’s maturation as an artist and person. Ultimately, he sounds like what he is: a middle-aged white male from the suburbs, but that is not a bad thing. Although it has a different flavor from his previous albums, Relapse is definitely worth a listen. I give it 3.5 flames out of five.