Doubt anyone actually cares about my review of the album, but I have time tonight for once so here it is. It's not a song for song review but I'll try to keep my points short.
Bad Guy is a great opener (which I think was done partially because where else would it honestly fit on the album?) and a great sequel which I never expected. Blew my mind first time I heard it, honestly. The last verse may be one of the best of his career, fitting to his career at this point but damn....beyond sick to end the opening track.
The diverse tracks made it seem a lot like recovery in that it was so different at times from track to track and wasn't cohesive like the sslp, mmlp or tes. But it was beyond better than recovery in almost every aspect except for survival, which was very reminiscent of the recovery era.
The rock feel on the album (rhyme or reason, berzerk, so far...) that rubin gave i thought was a great mix to his catalog and definitely not expected. Reminds me of sing for the moment in a way how he can take that style and make it his own.
While So Much Better was a great track, it reminded me a lot of puke and from the encore era, even though his rhymes were great and his hook was solid.
Rap God might easily be one of his all-time greatest songs simply for the fact he not only made a 6 minute, non-stop track with amazing lyricism and rhymes, but he stayed on the billboard charts for so long with a track that never had radio play.
He shocked me again (Bad Guy was the first) with Headlights. Never in my life did I expect this. Then he goes and makes a great song, with a great feature for the hook and a solid beat. It shows maturity as a person and an artist and that's awesome.
One thing I didn't like was the fact he doesn't do as many hooks anymore. This is obviously like the recovery era and it sorta bothered me. I understand why he does it, and I don't like songs less, but I think as one of the great rap artists who makes great hooks...he should do more of his own at this point.
I was a little disappointed in the bonus disc. Not because I didn't love the songs, they were fucking awesome, but in knowing some of them could have been on the album. Groundhog's Day not only fit the album but would have been perfect for it. Wicked Ways would have also fit well, maybe near the end as it was obviously tried for the last song considering the skit at the end.
Overall it's a great, solid, lyrical, amazing album from Eminem. I think we often forget he isn't the Eminem from 10-15 years ago, not to mention the drug addiction and Proof's passing. But he is definitely at the top of the game with his skill, originality, ideas, lyrics, rhymes, and presence. I put this album at the top (for me) with TES and MMLP. The only problem is judging something from 2 months ago and something from 12-13 years ago.