Less than 12 months on, even Eminem seems to have acknowledged the flaws with last year's comeback album, admitting, "Let's be honest, that last Relapse CD was ehhh". He's better here, but everything still feels so much less than vital. While you have to applaud a man getting clean and putting his life together, his decision to chronicle it feels a little worthy and more than a touch dull. Whatever criticisms people flung at Eminem in the early days, on those first two Aftermath LPs he was never, ever boring. You could argue with a straight face back in '99 that he was a genuinely revolutionary force in pop music. Those days are long, long gone, but this has just enough about it to pop Em's head back above water after last year's false restart.
