Album Review: Eminem’s ‘Revival’
CREDIT: Courtesy of Universal Music Group
As it turns out, that last part might have been the most important. On his very long, jagged-edged, oddly sequenced ninth album, “Revival,” Eminem remains one of the most accomplished technical rappers of his generation, but his taste in beats and subjects lets him down mightily. Leaning on charisma-free collaborations, histrionic productions, and nearly half a dozen attempts to rewrite his 2010 hit “Love the Way You Lie,” “Revival” is a messy, ultimately exhausting misfire. It’s a shame, because Eminem still has plenty to say, but even his newfound political consciousness can’t steer him away from some of his worst instincts.
Alas, the record’s molasses-thick middle stretch sees him fall back into some deep ruts. Musically speaking, the ballads “Nowhere Fast,” “Tragic Endings,” “Need Me” and “Bad Husband” all blur together into a sort of soupy muddle – barely distinguished by phoned-in choruses from Kehlani, Skylar Grey, Pink and X Ambassadors, respectively – with only the latter standing out thanks to some lacerating lyrics in which Em dissects his failed marriage to ex-wife Kim Scott in much the same way 2014’s “Headlights” offered an olive branch to his other frequent on-record nemesis, his own mother. These attempted heartstring-tuggers also brush up awkwardly against tracks like the lazy horrorcore splatterfest “Framed” and the water-treading “Remind Me,” on which producer Rick Rubin chops Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock and Roll” into a “Licensed to Ill”-style headbanger, only for Em’s joyless sex rhymes and a fairly ghastly chorus to turn it into hash.
Perhaps no two songs sum up the album’s incompatible sensibilities better than “Offended” and “Untouchable”: The former is a display of pure technical virtuosity and bad taste, as Em rattles off rapid syllables like a hip-hop Eddie Van Halen without saying anything of consequence; and the latter sees him attempt his most expansive take on race relations and privilege since “White America,” without ever locating the song’s rhythmic or melodic center. There’s no reason Eminem’s late-breaking wokeness can’t coexist with his old-school crudity, but his songs that rely on shock-tactics and pop culture trolling rarely tend to age well, and it’s disappointing to see him expend so much talent in the service of nothing much at all, while tracks on which he does have something to say wither on the vine. (On that note, the album’s Trump-baiting broadside “Like Home” fares even worse, burying its worthwhile messages in groaner puns, bombastic production and an anodyne Alicia Keys hook.)