Dec 14, 2017

1. Walk on Water - 6/10 - Credit to Em for doing something conceptually different to an open an album. Unfortunately, I just didn't find this very interesting, and thought Beyonce was unnecessary.
Highlights - Conceptually different for Em.
2. Believe - 9.5/10 - Eminem opens the meat of the album, by asking the listener "do you still believe in me". After listening, yes Em, we definitely do still believe in you. This song would have been a clear standout track if it were on the Big 3 albums, and therefore deserves a ton of praise. Absolutely stellar.
Highlights: production, 3rd verse, how Eminem alters his flow to match switches within the beat, violin outro.
3. Chloraseptic - 6.5/10 - Another trap-inspired track. Beat is funky, Phresher fits nicely, but the song doesn't really generate any emotion and doesn't seem like it will have a ton of replay value, but is partly saved by the standout 3rd verse.
Highlights: production, 3rd verse
4. Untouchable - 7/10 - The first 20 seconds of the song starts, and the listener thinks they are about to listen to an absolute b-----r. Then the guitar riff/"black boy" starts and the next 2 minutes of the song become unlistenable, which is really unfortunate because the last 3 minutes of the song (black part) are very, very solid instrumentally and lyrically. Take out the middle 2 minutes and the song would be a solid 8.
Highlights: nice concept, first 20 seconds, Em's flow on the final 3 minutes.
5. River - 6.5/10 - Clearly an attempt at a single, and Sheeran shines on the chorus of this track. In terms of an Em single, it seems to be most conceptually similar to LTWYL, but unfortunately I think it falls short. For whatever reason the "story" Em told during the song really didn't hit a nerve, and therefore was a letdown in my opinion. I think it had potential, but the execution (Em's part) just wasn't there.
Highlights: Sheeran
6: Remind Me intro - not worth rating
7: Remind Me - 4/10 - As soon as the song starts, it brought me back to memories of Rubin-produced "So Far" and "Love Game" from MMLP2. This may not be a problem for you, but it was for me. The Joan Jett "I love rock and roll" sample seemed lazy and generic. It seemed like the production team hoped this song would "stick" with fans since the original sample was one of the most well known karoake-bar classics in history. It won't
8: Revival (interlude) - will leave unrated due to the lack of Em, but do think it adds to the melodic mood of the album and liked it alot, for what it was.
9. Like Home - 6/10 - I want to love this song, I really do. The beat is extremely uplifting and melodic, moreso than anything than I have heard Em rap on. But similar to "River", I just don't think the song received the attention/time/refinement from Em and the production team that was necessary to make it a b-----r. "This type of pickle we are in is hard to deal, but there's always tomorrow still" sounds forced and kind of corny to be honest.
Highlights: some memorable lines from Em, Alicia Keys worked perfectly with the instrumental.
10. Bad Husband - 9.5/10 - A recycled theme that Eminem has rapped about numerous times, but in my opinion, executed near flawlessly on this song. Incredible flow, generates tons of emotions, incredible. "...never forget, when you came home, and you held Hailey, day before you went to jail, and daily, and how we'd wait for the mail lady." The feels are realer here than they have been in a long time with Em, maybe even ever. After initially not liking the chorus, it has grown on me a ton. Love it.
Highlights: everything
11. Tragic Endings - 3/10 - Flow-wise it kinda reminded me of a worse version of "25 to Life" coupled with LTWYL. Song just doesn't work for me. Skylar works well over the beat, and lays a decent chorus, but Em screaming into the mic about a hypothetical relationship gone wrong has been done so many times already, that it needs to be done perfectly in order to have replay value at this point. This wasn't done perfectly, so it has very little replay value.
Highlights: Skylar
12. Framed - 5/10 thematically it is a story-song, similar to what would be found on Relapse. Flow-wise Em gets points here for the effort put in. The "Fraaaaammmed" chorus is new stylistically, but the song just falls flat for some reason. Maybe it is the production. I see very little replay value here.
13. Nowhere Fast - 9/10 when Kehlani starts singing at the beginning of this song and the instrumental kicks in, you realize this song sounds nothing like anything Eminem has put on his album - far more melodic, uplifting, and light. Well I'm glad he included it, because he absolutely ripped the beat to shreds..."if my heart seems like it is in the wrong place, it's probably because it is it's on my sleeve."...."I set the world on fire, was born to be an arsonist"...."told you I'd leave my mark on this b----" don't seem like anything incredible on paper, but when you hear Em lay it over this track, you really believe him. "Will I ever fall off? That day will never come, til the pine box, b---- f*ck you, I'm better than I ever was." Yes, you are Em.
Highlights: classical music sample, emotion, flow, Kehlani crushes, Em taking risks with new types of songs.
14. Heat - 3/10 - literally feels like a Rubin carbon-copy leftover from MMLP2 material. There is some interesting layering in the instrumental here, and Em's flow switches are impressive at points, but the song simply seems boring after getting the exact same type of tracks on MMLP2. I blame Rubin for being lazy on this one.
15. Offended - 8/10 - lyrically/flow, it sounds like something Em would do for a BET cypher, that happened to get thrown on top of a beat. Which initially makes the first minute of the song sound flat, but as the song progresses, Em introduces a very catchy chorus and proceeds to rip the songs to absolute shreds during the verses. His flow-switching that we usually hate, works perfectly here. Technically, this is a very impressive offering from Em.
Highlights: chorus, cypher-style flow, switching flow to match beat drops perfectly.
16. Need Me - 5/10 - is this a Pink song or Eminem song? At first I couldn't believe how much free space Em gave Pink on his own album, but after a full listen with headphones, she deserves room to shine. Unfortunately, she is the highlight of the track and Em falls a bit flat trying to deliver another fairly generic LTWYL verse.
Highlights: Pink shines, Em singing with Kim on the chorus, instrumental is big, bold and beautiful
17. In Your Head - 8/10 - Em delivers with force here. Conceptually, the song is a bit lazy, and many could argue that the song belongs on a mixtape but not worth of an album slot, but the 2nd verse is raw as it gets, and Eminem won't allow to you to fast-forward through it. Would actually have liked to see a 3rd verse here.
Highlights: Eminem ripping verse 2 to shreds, 'Zombie' sample with added with drums is dope.
18. Castle - 9/10 - Classic Eminen, nostaligia is all over the place here when we hear Em rap about his struggles coming up in the rap game while juggling the struggles of being a father. Actually think this song is better than 'Mockingbird', which is saying a lot considering that many people believe Em no longer has it in his to make music that can stand on par with that era.
Highlights: chorus is very catchy, and conceptually well done. Subject matter, lyrics, flow, Em's voice
19. Arose - 10/10 - Am I really giving a 10/10 rating (on par with Lose Yourself, Sing for the Moment, Rock Bottom, 8 Mile Road) to an Em song in 2017 that uses a Bette Midler love-song sample? Well, within 30 seconds of 'Arose' starting, the goosebumps are there and the hair on my arms are standing on ends, which has never happened when listening to an Em song, ever. In my opinion, this is an absolute classic, on par with anything Em has ever put out. Just incredible.
Highlights: Most beautiful beat Em has ever rapped on, conceptually flawless tie-in with Castle at the end, very emotional song.
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Total album score: 6.76 out of 10

Closing thoughts:

If you would have asked me to rate the album before I did the grading of each song above, I probably would have said 'Revival' was an 7.5-8 out of 10, rather than the 6.76/10 that it came out to, which is exactly the problem with this album:

The good on this album is so great that it makes you instinctively rate it higher than what it deserves when every song is included. The collective highs on this album are above the highs on Relapse, Recovery, and MMLP2, but unfortunately for Eminem, the lows on this album are also below than the lows on those 3 albums as well (in my opinion). Also, Rick Rubin's contributions made this album worse, and Em should seriously think about moving on from him in the future.

In general, I am very impressed with the best parts of this album - Believe, Bad Husband, Nowhere fast, Offended, Castles, In Your Head, and Arose all can compete with material that Em created prior to 2004, which is saying a lot. Unfortunately, the worst parts of this album are so bad that they drag the overall experience down by alot. Erase the worst 4 songs on this album, and replace them with some combination of Fine Line, Phenomenal, Kings Never Die, Die Alone, Guts Over Fear, and we would be looking at the best Eminem solo album post-TES. Eminem should have taken more time before releasing this album.