Current Events > Rolling Stone: Eminem Is Raw, Honest and Compelling as Ever on 'Revival'

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/eminem-revival-review-raw-honest-compelling-as-ever-w514157

The title of his ninth LP implies a nostalgic return, and its most electric moments do look back, suggesting a confused and conciliatory man taking stock of his own legacy the kind of honesty that's always made him one of hip-hop's most compelling memoirists. Album-opener "Walk On Water," featuring vocals from Beyonc, wonders if that legacy can still be built upon. Eminem details his own missteps and self-doubt over a mostly beatless track as the sounds of crumbling paper and errant swears underscore his lack of confidence. That confessional power also comes out as he revisits another favorite theme: his failings as a dad. The LP's last two tracks, "Castle" and "Arose," form a powerful suite that moves from his days as a struggling dad penning letters to his unborn daughter to the pill-hazed superstar screaming about her loss of privacy. He raps from the hospital bed where he was shuttled after a 2007 methadone overdose and apologizes for all the things he won't get to see her do. It's a mini-series working like the raw docu-drama of open-hearted goosebumpers like 2004's "Mockingbird," proving that, when he lets you peek inside, Eminem still carries emotional heft.

The majority of Revival is, well, a revival: a collection of labyrinthine raps without much of a narrative arc. Lyrically, Eminem mainly falls back on old tricks. But what tricks they are: part Big Daddy Kane, part Eddie Van Halen, part Marquis de Sade. He can still be the same booger-flicking shock-rocker, just in a dirty old man's body. "Believe" and "Chloraseptic" are the type of boast-heavy rap-a-thons that no fan of Run the Jewels would shrug at; Em even has a go at a Migos flow. On "Heat," he unleashes a ridiculous litany of dirty puns ("You got buns, I got Asperger's") and the type of convoluted double entendres that would make AC/DC feel like underachievers ("Sorry if I'm being graphic, but I'm stiff as a statue/You sat on a shelf, I feel like I'm a bust/Maybe I'm ahead of myself"). He's a triple-X LL Cool J on "Remind Me," rapping about boobs 'n' butts while Rick Rubin flips Joan Jett's "I Love Rock 'N' Roll."

This review's Stanning is off the charts.
---

Duh, he wrote Stan.
---

Are there any bangers on this
---

I just put on Heat

Wtf is this garbage
---

darkprince45 posted...

Are there any bangers on this

I loved everything Eminem has done and even still this new album needs a revival and that's already the name of it!

He's no Stitches, that's for sure.
---

Album is really poor. Eminem has moments, like 30 second snippets where it seems like a return to form. The Ed Sheeran feature was better than Eminem. Castle was solid, but it was also infuriating because it proves Eminem could return to same style of flow and production that made him what he is but, he refused to do so.
---

Cornmuffins posted...

He's no Stitches, that's for sure.

No one comes close to Stitches.
---

I wonder if Eminem paid the reviewer off.
---

More like...wait for it

Trolling Stone
---