Eminem - 'Recovery' (Interscope) Released: 21/06/10

What is there to say about Eminem that hasn’t already been said? He’s the quick witted emcee with more record sales than Kanye West, Lil’ Wayne and 50 Cent combined. He’s the ex-trailer trash 8 Mile resident who turned his life story in to a survival “How To” guide for every teenager willing to listen. On top of that, he’s been to hell and back via his addiction to prescription and non-prescription drugs, re-married and divorced his on/off high school sweetheart Kim, while at the same time losing his best friend to a violent shoot out. Bottom line… Eminem is a survivor. He’s been through thick and thin, is still here, and is still selling millions of units whenever he drops a new CD.

His latest offering is without doubt his most experimental project to date. Moving away from his comfort zone, 'Recovery' sees Em embrace the use of rock riffs, collaborate with artists he wouldn’t usually associate himself with, and banning the playful - and at times very annoying - comedy voice his previous two albums were injected with. Throughout 'Recovery' Eminem voices his lack of love for his last album, 2009’s 'Relapse'. Looking back he drops lines like, “**** my last CD, that shit’s in the trash.” And while it may not have been up to his usual high standard the CD still went on to sell over three million copies. So with a new outlook on the music industry and a new found belief in himself, 'Recovery' comes off sounding like a coming of age story for fans of hip-hop, old times and new.

With a strong first single in the form of the hip-hop confessional ‘I’m Not Afraid’, the rest of the album seems to follow suit. ‘Cold Wind Blows’ is a throwback to Em’s ‘I Don’t Give A ****’ days, firing comedic shots at Mariah Carey, Michael Vick, and even Michael J Fox. But instead of just going in blind, his punchlines are impeccably clever. For example, “I set the world on fire, piss on it, put it out/ Stick my dick in a circle but I’m not ****in’ around,” will have you laughing until your sides get sore as well as gawping in awe at how intellectually crazy the lyrics are. It doesn’t stop there either. On ‘Cinderella Man’ the line, “You can die in the blink of an eye so bat your eye lashes/ And keep winking and blowing kisses cos you’re flirting with death,” just reminds you that even when he isn’t going at an opponent Eminem is still one of the best to ever do it.

Guest stars on the album include Lil’ Wayne, who Em first collaborated with on the hugely successful Drake track ‘Forever’. The two of them trade bars over the aggressively dark ‘No Love’, which samples the classic dance track ‘What Is Love’ by Haddaway. The unlikely teaming of Eminem with Pink works well on the rock-savy ‘Won’t Back Down’, however the Rihanna helmed twisted love story ‘Love The Way You Lie’ doesn’t seem to have the desired effect Mr. Mathers was probably going for. Regardless of this, if the track is released as a single it’ll more than likely go to the top of the charts because of the high profile pairing and catchy chorus.

Standing head and shoulders above the rest of the album’s tracklist is the disturbingly honest ‘Going Through Changes’. Doing what he does best, Em visits a sinister place in his head and translates it via this true life account of the past few years of his life. With everything from Proof’s death on the agenda to wanting to battle Kanye and Wayne at some point because they were center stage, there’s no way you can deny this track making an impact on you emotionally.

With the occasional trip in to pop purgatory, Eminem has succeeded in crafting an album built to satisfy fans of all aspects of his work. He’s the man with a thousand faces, and 'Recovery' brings them all together in one place. If you were to place this album anywhere in his back catalogue to represent which level of intensity you were letting yourself in for, it definitely sits in between 2000’s 'The Marshall Mathers LP' and 02’s 'The Eminem Show'.