Album Review: RELAPSE

Written By Brian Guggenheimer

Eminem’s newest album, Relapse, had the biggest opening of any album this year, selling 608,000 copies in its first week of release. Relapse is Eminem’s first album in four years, and is his sixth overall.

The cause of Eminem’s four-year sabbatical was also his inspiration for Relapse. Since Eminem released Encore in 2004, the death of a close friend and a subsequent sleeping pill addiction deterred his musical career. After completing rehab, relapsing, and experiencing a near fatal overdose, Eminem finally cleaned up again and began working on a new album with his producer, legendary rapper Dr. Dre.

Relapse is one of the darkest albums Eminem has made. While most of Eminem’s earlier works had a certain signature black humor and were reflections of his troubled childhood, many of the tracks on Relapse are just dark and angry. While past albums also contained humorous audio skits between some songs, Relapse features chilling dramatic sketches, which augment the spookiness of the album. The songs themselves include several violent references to drug abuse. Still, the “Slim Shady” we grew up listening to is still resonant behind the aggressive lyrics and beats.

All of the songs in Relapse are long. None of them are much under four minutes and several are longer than six. Arguably the most memorable song on the album, “Beautiful,” is six and half minutes long. “Beautiful” takes the listener deep into Eminem’s troubled mind, but it has hints of hope and a positive message.

Though Relapse lacks the novelty of Eminem’s earliest material, it introduces us to a new Marshall Mathers and revitalizes an artist whose career had collapsed.