Rap's Clown Prince Returns (Relapse - Eminem)

Member Name: LegendKiller

Product:	Relapse - Eminem
Date:	26/07/09 (9 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Eminem's undoubted talents meet again with Dre's production skills.

Disadvantages: Repetition of lyrical topics and what seems like a lack of desire.

Despite his own admission that people have been wondering 'where the f**k' he's been the last four years, it is hard to believe that it's been a full ten years since Eminem first graced us with the drug-fuelled, profanity-laden Slim Shady LP. Now though, four years after his last record, 2005's Encore, he's back with Relapse, a record that carries a huge weight of expectation.
In the last four years, Marshall Mathers has endured drug addiction, rehab, more drug addiction and more rehab, on top of losing his best friend DeShaun 'Proof' Holton to a nightclub gun fight. Slim Shady has a whole world full of new issues, and he's going to share every last dark part of his mind with his fans around the world.

'I was born with a d**k in my brain/yeah, fu**ked in the head/my stepfather said that I sucked in bed' from the aptly titled 'Insane' is a good example of what you can expect from Eminem on this record: whether he's sticking a flashlight up the derriere of Kim Kardashian in '3 am', or stalking Lindsay Lohan in 'Same old song and dance', in various places on this record Eminem sounds like he's completely lost the plot.

One of the main problems with the record is that despite the controversial content, the record sounds far too safe. As an artist whose success has always been at least partially reliant on shock value, even the most savage attacks seem to have lost the edge they did. This means the songs lack the genuine sense of unease that tracks such as 'Kim' (from 2000's Marshall Mathers LP) presented to the listener.

Even the songs like '3 am', a serial-killer rant which would on paper seem a prime target for controversy, seems forced. Sadly, it seems like controversy for the sake of it: not a nice accusation to level at someone with Mather's undoubted talents. Eminem himself seems to realise this, warily stating that: 'I guess it's time for you to hate me again/let's begin/now hand me the pen/how shall I begin it and where does it all end?' on 'Medicine Ball'

What makes the weaker, more monotonous cuts on the record so frustrating is the fact that Relapse contains two or three moments that can easily be classed as among Eminem's best work. 'Deja Vu' sees Eminem lose the phony, semi Arabian accent that he first adopted for Encore's 'Ass Like That' (and that he unfortunately uses at various points throughout Relapse) and take on a more serious tone, and despite all the previous references to drugs and mental instability that have taken place throughout Relapse, it is the first time on the record that the listener can truly feel the pain Marshall Mathers has suffered in the last couple of years.

'Beautiful' follows a similar pattern. Sampling Queen and Paul Rodgers, it is another lamenting ballad full of pleas to be able to revert to a normal life, and to trade places with someone so 'they could see, how it feels to be me'. Like 'Deja Vu', all hints of the desperate clown have gone, to be replaced by a stark, naked view of the world through Eminem's eyes.

The best on this record, though, is undoubtedly saved until last. 'Underground' is simply huge. Dre's production sounds massive: sweeping strings, harmonious backing vocals and possibly the most thumping beat the Doc has ever composed. Shady pumps all the lyrical topics covered in the rest of the album: addiction, regret, depression and death. This time though, they don't sound cheap or fake: they ring with the same fury Eminem first spat out on the Slim Shady LP. He finally sounds like what he is after the four years he's lived through: a man with nothing to lose. Like 'Toy Soldiers' (the undoubted highlight from Encore), it is a final, brutal moment of genius from a monumentally talented man.

The unfortunate question that will be on everybody's mind after hearing this record, though, is exactly how many more of those moments Eminem can have left.

Summary: A varied, neurotic record that blends some tedious tunes along with flashes of absolute genius.