Recovery review.

After a disappointment in most hip-hop fans' eyes with the release of Relapse last year, Eminem scraped the idea of releasing a 'sequel' to it and instead changed the name to "Recovery." As the album gained more press, those same fans started to get really excited once again. And why shouldn't they have been excited? It's been eight years since Slim Shady released a good album (The Eminem Show).

One of the biggest flaws on Relapse was the annoying accent Eminem tried to make work throughout most of the songs. Most of the casual hip-hop or Marshall Mathers' fans hated it; hell, even some of his 'Stans' didn't care for it either. Eminem saw that and addressed that in his first single, "Not Afraid."

"And to the fans, I'll never let you down again, I'm back
I promise to never go back on that promise, in fact
Let's be honest, that last Relapse CD was 'ehhhh'
Perhaps I ran them accents into the ground
Relax, I ain't going back to that now"

That line right there instilled more excitement in me than any other previous album, from any artist. With his promise, I expected an epic comeback and another project that would have him inching closer and closer to Pac and Big on the GOAT list.

Then the track-list was released and I know a lot of Eminem fans frowned that day. No Slaughterhouse? 50 Cent? Dre? D12? He's doing tracks with Rihanna and Pink? And Kobe Bryant is rapping nowadays? I'll even admit that I was bit disappointed, but I still had high expectations for the album.

Now, it has leaked onto the Internet and the most anticipated album of this entire year (for me, at least) is in my collection. All I can say is that before this leaked, I was listening to Thank Me Later and Bar Exam 3 (Royce da 5'9's new mix-tape) constantly. They haven't gotten a play since.

1.) Cold Wind Blows - 3.5/5

The start of this song really throws it back to the Slim Shady LP or Marshall Mathers LP days with the constant talking about his dick and other things; at least I thought so. Punchlines galore in this one, as Michael Vick, Mariah Carey (a given), and Aquaman all get mentioned. A nice song, but it's not anything I'd play constantly.

2.) Talkin' 2 Myself ft. Kobe - 5/5

Wow, after a single with the first track, Shady knocks this one out of the park. Kobe does an outstanding job on the hook and should be looked upon to deliver more hooks for more artists in the future. Em goes in with lots of confessions, including when he thought about dissing Lil' Wayne and Kanye West for no reason. The best quotable in this one is in the third verse:

"It’s different, them last two albums didn’t count
Encore I was on drugs, Relapse I was flushing em out"

3.) On Fire - 4/5

Eminem unleashes some of the old magic again with this track. Crazy, out-of-this world lyrics, and a diss towards a celebrity or two. Let's hope Slim doesn't run into Hulk Hogan anytime soon or this will be his last album. Overall, it's a pretty good song, but like Cold Wind Blows, it gets skipped sometimes because of the great tracks later on.

4.) Won't Back Down ft. Pink - 4/5

What a weird collaboration, huh? It works though. Pink does a nice job on the hook, then Marshall goes in with so many punchlines that make you rewind it to hear if he actually said that. My favorite:

"I gave Bruce Wayne a Valium and said
Settle ya f***ing ass down, I'm ready for combat-man
Get it, calm batman?"

I also love how in the middle of the third verse that the music turns down and you're wondering if you nudged the volume button by accident, but then it picks back up. Just an overall great track and you could tell he had fun with it.

5.) W.T.P. - 3/5

W.T.P. stands for White Trash Party; fun fact of the day. The beat's nice and Eminem comes in with some nice punchlines, but I can't really pick anything out of this song that I love. Solid, but skippable.

6.) Going Through Changes - 5/5

Another incredible track. This gives me goosebumps because of the journey Eminem takes us listeners on when he discusses Proof's death and how he almost died from his drug addiction. The Ozzy Osbourne sample is perfect for this song as well. It's the second 5/5 on this album, but we're still a way from the top track.

7.) Not Afraid - 4.5/5

This was the first single from Recovery and it was one of his best ever. Instead of the corny, goofy ones, Shady comes with an inspirational track that fits perfectly after Going Through Changes. The line I posted in the introductory paragraphs got me hyped for this album like I said, but there are other great lines too:

"Quit playing with the scissors and s***, and cut the crap
I shouldn’t have to rhyme these words in a rhythm for you to know it’s a rap
You said you was king, you lied through your teeth
For that f*** your feelings, instead of getting crowned you’re getting capped"

8.) Seduction - 3/5

Besides W.T.P. and another track, this is one of the weakest on the album. I do like how Em took a page from Hov's book, by dropping some "aww's" in the second verse. Reminds me of Superman a little bit, but maybe that's just me. Another skip, but it's not horrible.

9.) No Love ft. Lil' Wayne - 5/5

We have another winner here. Wayne finally comes through with a nice verse in his guest appearance, then Just Blaze did an excellent job sampling Haddaway's What is Love? for the chorus. Eminem follows up with an outstanding verse of his own, combining raw emotion, punch-lines, a Kanye West/Taylor Swift moment, and some nice ad-libbing from Weezy. Just an amazing song...another 5/5, but STILL not the top track on here.

10.) Space Bound - 4.5/5

I'm not going to lie, but when I first looked at the track list, I thought this song was going to be completely lame. Sounds like something Kid Cudi would have on his album (just to let you know, I wouldn't have been upset if Cudi had a track named Space Bound on his album, because that's his thing). Anyways, this is another great track. This makes me feel that Em was in love with someone other than Kim and this song expresses that feeling. Of course, he goes with the Kim-esque ending on the third verse, but it still sounds nice.

11.) Cinderella Man - 3/5

Unlike Space Bound, I was excited to listen to this song because it just screamed "inspirational" to me, like a Till I Collapse. However, I was extremely disappointed when that was not the case. There's more Relapse bashing and some good flow, but another skippable track.

Note: When I say "skippable" track, I mean that I can listen to it sometimes, but usually it does get skipped. If a track's just awful, I'll say that and never listen to it again.

12.) 25 to Life - 5/5

And here's the best track on the album. I had high expectations for this one when I saw it on the track list, and it exceeded them by far. It sounds like Eminem is talking about Kim throughout the song, but then he drops the bomb at the end and changes the entire complexion of the story when he reveals it's about the hip-hop game. I'm dead serious when I say this could be one of his top five songs of all-time...or at least near that category. It's everything I wanted out of this album.

13.) So Bad - 2.5/5

Worst song on the album, gets skipped just about every time. Maybe it's because I was expecting something great after the masterpiece that was "25 to Life" but it just didn't happen. It's not even that bad, but just mediocre compared to the rest of the songs.

14.) Almost Famous - 4.5/5

Much better, Shady. Right off the bat he throws a Roethlisberger line in there, poking fun at the whole rape accusation like he did in the Despicable freestyle. This track discusses his state of mind before he actually blew up and made it. It reminds me a little of something I'd find on SSLP, but not quite as good.

15.) Love the Way You Lie ft. Rihanna - 4.5/5

And Rihanna makes it 4/4 on guest appearances, doing a fantastic job with the chorus on this song. Pretty obvious, but this talks about the highs and lows of a relationship, followed by its ending coupled with verbal and physical abuse. (How ironic is it that Rihanna is on this track with that type of subject matter?) I think this will end up being a single, which would make for one interesting video.

16.) You're Never Over - 4.5/5

The perfect tribute to Em's fallen friend, Proof. Very deep, emotional, and motivational; I know he's looking down at Marshall, smiling. The only downside of this song is the chorus, showing that Shady should stick to rapping.

17.) Here We Go [hidden track] - 4/5

Another track that reminds me of his older stuff ends this album. Just sounds like he had a lot of fun with this one and there are metaphors and punch-lines for days. Pretty nice for a hidden track to wrap this up.

Overall Grade: 4.1/5

If you were expecting another MMLP/SSLP, please slap yourself now. This is a new Eminem, with a little bit of the old sprinkled in and I love it. You can tell that he had a lot of motivation with the death of Proof and the so-so reviews of Relapse. Recovery was a true recovery of sorts.

Less singing and maybe a few more features to get his vocal cords off the choruses would shoot this album into the category of MMLP and SSLP. Some of the production is a little stale, but I'm more of a lyrics guy and that's what really won me over with this album.

I'd rank this just behind The Eminem Show, but miles ahead of Infinite, Relapse and Encore. It's pretty impressive that you can be nearing 40, haven't dropped a great album in eight years and then come with something very, very good after scrapping your original plans.

There's a lot of competition for AOTY (Album of the Year), but Recovery has to be near the top of the list. Eminem is back, folks.

Download: Eminem - Recovery