Billy Talent – “Billy Talent III” Review (4 out of 5)
Billy Talent is a band that I am constantly perplexed with. I am perplexed because I just don’t know why I love them so fucking much. The vocals sound like Johnny Rotten with an American accent actually hitting pitches over commercial-friendly rock. The drums are nothing spectacular, and the bass follows directly with the guitar. The guitar is probably the most original part of the band, because it’s played in a very peculiar way, with riffs that are very specifically tied with the Billy Talent sound, but something I have always been very fond of. If you’re into this band, or enjoyed any of their previous works, then you will absolutely love this album.
The first track, “Devil On My Shoulder,” opens the album much like “This Is How It Goes” did with Billy Talent I. It’s explosive, catchy, and definitely a good start to the album. The following tracks are mixed with down-tempo beats such as “Rusted From The Rain,” “White Sparrows,” and “Sudden Movement,” along with powerful blasts of rock like “Diamond On A Landmine” and “The Dead Can’t Testify.” Many tracks on this album will immediately remind you of previous albums, but it’s nothing that you would find redundant. For example, if you listen to the beginning of “White Sparrows,” the first thing to come to your head may be “In The Fall” from BTII, but it won’t stop you from enjoying the song. The album as a whole isn’t anything different than you would find from the band, its a very signature sound they have and it’s something that fans will probably enjoy for at least two more albums to come without them evolving.
My personal favorite track is “The Dead Can’t Testify.” This track is absolutely amazing. You can’t NOT bob your head when you hear it. Not only that, but you’ll get chills listening to the addition of a mandolin during the chorus. My least favorite track on the album is the closing song, “Definition of Destiny.” Though the distorted guitar sounds powerful, the mixture of that with clean tones in the verses and the annoying chant of “definition of destiny” make me wish they left it off the album.
Billy Talent gives you exactly what you were expecting for a third album. This is both a compliment and a bit of an offense. If you don’t like them, this will make you like them even less. If you do like them, then you’ll highly enjoy it. Regardless, you won’t be surprised with anything. The only thing I can imagine a fan being surprised with is the use of guitar solos, which have been noticeably absent in previous works.
Once again, I honestly don’t know why I love this band so much. If you listen to this album, it’s even more proof of their lyrics being absolutely terrible. With lyrics such as “let the rain fall down to the ground,” “I got my own definition of destiny,” and “strip me of my power, beat me with your chains,” you can’t help be perplexed that you’re still listening. My theory is that the guitar is specifically written to ignite the rock fire of your soul once dedicated to bands like Aerosmith and Billy Idol, while sending nostalgia signals to your short-lived punk days in middle school. This album is a 4 out of 5. As amazing as it is for a BT fan, it’s still nothing shocking.
The Future of Futurama
I know, I know. That headline was cheesy and fucking stupid. Deal with it.
I’m angry! Do you know why? It’s because either Fox or Comedy Central won’t pay the voice-over talent of one of my favorite cartoons enough money. I don’t know the details, so it actually may be the other way, with the talent asking for an absolutely horrid amount of money, but I’m angry at the situation. Futurama has been signed on to come back for 26 episodes on either Comedy Central or Fox, but since the talent and the network can’t agree on a salary, the talent has left, which means the returning episodes of Futurama will have different voices. Each character will have his/her own individual douche-bag trying to recreate the voice perfected by the person before. It’s going to sound tried and awkward, ruining the show for the fans. It’s not going to matter if the jokes are good, or if the stories are good. Without the original voices, the show is shit. Pull it together, Matt Groening! Fix this bullshit!!!
Public Enemies review – 3 out of 5
Let’s face it. Johnny Depp and Christian Bale are probably the two most sought-after actors in Hollywood these days, and the idea of them pinned against each other in a 1930′s gangster flick is an idea worthy of a very appreciative orgasm. Especially one about John Dillinger. Personally, I wasn’t so excited that it was two of the greatest actors of this generation, but because it was about John Dillinger. If you’ve heard of a metal band named The Dillinger Escape Plan, you’re automatically interested because the movie is, literally, about John Dillinger Escaping. I was highly interested in seeing the movie based on the guy that one of my all-time favorite metal bands based their name on (did’ja follow?).
The movie was…confusing. Not the story-line, but the overall production. Especially coming from such the guy that directed The Aviator. The movie progressed particularly slowly, and it lasted probably a good hour too long. The cinematography is amazing at times, and others looks absolutely terrible. The audio quality of the gunshots are loud and blasting one second, and then another gun will go off and it seems muffled and shapeless. The reasons being that Michael Mann made the bold move of filming half the movie with film, the other half digitally with a handheld HD camcorder. He did this to give a more authentic feel to the movie so that it gives the audience a more personal feel. However, this was to his fault.
The movie through the HD camcorder, though impressively sharp, makes the movie look like a direct-to-dvd skinflick. It’s shaky, there’s no depth in the imagery, and it makes the make-up on the actor’s uncomfortably noticeable. Christian Bale looked like a wax figure of himself. I don’t want to pay ten bucks for a movie that looks like I could have used cameras within my own budget.
The acting, on the other hand, was absolutely superb. Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, though in the same scene together such a few number of times, work incredibly well together. Every actor in this movie did an amazing job (not counting the interrogation scene between a police officer and Dillinger’s girlfriend played by Marion Cotillard, what the fuck accent is she using in that scene?). Not only was the acting amazing in this movie, but the costumes and scenery made you believe they flew back in time and filmed it in the actual time period. It was astounding.
Obviously, I have very mixed feelings about this movie. So much of it was good, yet so much of it was utterly frustrating. Hence, the 3 out of 5. It’s not literally in the middle, but 3 is usually my middle-ground rating. I recommend this movie when it comes out on DVD and/or Blu-Ray, because it’s certainly an interesting watch. But, when it comes down to it, you’ll more than likely only watch it one time just to say you watched it. This is definitely not a movie you’ll be raving about and wanting to see on multiple occasions (unless it’s on HBO and Starz is playing absolute shit).
Killswitch Engage – "Killswitch Engage" Review (2 out of 5)
I’ll be honest. It may be a little embarrassing to say this since I’m such a huge fan of Dillinger Escape Plan, Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza, Mike Patton, Psyopus, and bands alike. But, I am an old school fan of Killswitch Engage. When I was a teenager, their first two albums were constantly being played in my walkman. Then they evolved into a more structured form of commercially-friendly metal with their new singer (I guess that’s what happens when your original singer blows out his vocal chords by screaming incorrectly). With this said, the new Killswitch Engage album is entirely frustrating to listen to.
Killswitch is an interesting metal band. I say this because they can go from playing with bands like System Of A Down and Sevendust and other more commercial-friendly metal bands (most of them being nu-metal – remember that shit?), to playing with bands like Slayer and Cannibal Corpse and still keep the crowd entertained. This band is very dynamic in that aspect. They are one of the few bands that can make catchy metal. But, goddamnit, this album needs to make up its damn mind!
This album opens beautifully. The first track has a blast beat that gives you hope that they are trying something new and more chaotic. The verses and chorus are both heavy and in some aspects, “brutal” (cheesy I know). Then the album dives into a novel of ballads that you’d normally find in a screamo band. Now I know that most of what Killswitch has written about in their history can be viewed as a tad emo. For fuck’s sake, the album that nabbed them a grammy nomination was called The End Of Heartache. I think it’s gone a bit too far in this album though. I get so excited when I hear them write something loud and fast, full of distortion and anger. When I listen to metal, this is what I want to hear. Some of the songs on this album do just that. HOWEVER, when a song like “Take Me Away” comes on, it just pisses me off. The beginning to the song is fantastic, it starts off with guitar riffs and patterns that I’ve never heard from them before. So, naturally, I get excited. Then, it immediately drops off into clean guitar transcending into a ballad chorus. Fuck! Do you know who got famous for heavy verses and clean choruses? Bands like Saliva and Hoobastank. This song comes very close to ruining the entire album for me.
Other than problems like this, a lot of the music is redundant if you’re a Killswitch fan. Simply put, it’s more of the same. If you are a die-hard Killswitch fan, then you’re going to enjoy the album. But for me, I’m just too tired of hearing them put out album after album, each sounding the same as the last with minor differences. I’m going to go out on a limb here, but I honestly think the most entertaining thing they have done since Howard Jones joined the band is the cover of “Holy Diver” from Dio. I know, I know, it’s a big statement. But, honestly, listen to Howard’s old band Blood Has Been Shed. If you want to hear Howard doing metal, that’s where you’ll find it. They make Killswitch sound like John Mayer. I’m not saying adding Howard to the mix was a bad decision; I actually like Howard and think he’s a great frontman. The music just seemed to take a turn for the commercial when he joined.
This album gets a 2. I would give it a one, but if I was a bigger Killswitch fan I’d probably enjoy it much more. Therefore, I’m kinda giving them the benefit of the doubt in a sense. But I’m pretty confident that even a die-hard fan would be understanding of my score.
The Dear Hunter – "Act III: Life And Death" Review (4 out of 5)
If you are a fan of The Dear Hunter, and have heard this album, then you will fully understand this review. This album, though I give it a 4 out of 5, is possibly the most disappointing album of this year. Disappointing merely because it’s predecessor, Act II was so immensely better than this. The choruses in Act III are not nearly as catchy and mind-blowing, the vocals still have an odd EQ thing going on to where certain notes just hurt my ears (I believe it’s the high-mids), and the songs are overall just bland compared to what they are capable of.
In my opinion, however, The Dear Hunter is one of the most overlooked and underrated bands of this generation. They are a band that theatric bands like Panic At The Disco only fantasize about being. Nearly every song from this band has an epic feeling to it. There are strings, at many times horns, large vocally grouped harmonies, and piano. If you haven’t heard them, I implore you, please, download their discography of Act 1 to Act III. It doesn’t matter how many times I listen to them, I get amazed every single time. This is why I was so disappointed by this current album. Act I and Act II were so jaw-dropping and amazing that my expectations and hopes for the new was very high. So much so that I was almost in anger when I got done listening to it. From someone who has never listened to this band, the album would sound fantastic, hence the 4 out of 5. But, from the standpoint of someone who has listened to the past two albums pretty religiously, this album comes as a huge disappointment. Actually, I have an idea. For those of you who haven’t listened to this band before, listen to this album first. If you like it, proceed to listen to Act I and then finally the climax of Act II. This album is a good example of what the band sounds like, but the past two albums just give so much more.
The Mars Volta – "Octahedron" Review (4 out of 5)
The Mars Volta would be like a modern day Led Zeppelin if instead of LSD they were addicted to crystal meth. The moment they came on the scene they made a huge impact by being a continuation of At The Drive-In combined with even more chaos and catchiness. Each album they put out seems to be a continuation of the previous, all being explosive and energetic. Octahedron is no exception. It starts off with the track “Since We’ve Been Wrong” which will immediately remind you of the song “Televators” off their debut. It then delves into the rock explosion that is The Mars Volta.
With every album, it seems like there is only one or two songs that are highly memorable, with each album being amazing. I know that sounds confusing, but when you listen to the albums, you can’t help but be blown away (again) by their talent. They really are phenomenal musicians, but if you put all the songs on random, then more than likely you won’t be able to pin each song to each album successfully. They kinda all sound the same. They have such a signature sound that you instantly recognize it as The Mars Volta, but much of it is just more of the same. So again, I am in firm belief in my theory that with each album, however amazing the entire album may be, there will probably be only two or so songs that you remember significantly.
With Octahedron, those two songs would be “Since We’ve Been Wrong” and “Desperate Graves,” and in some cases “Copernicus.” These songs make my mind melt with a mixture of joy and intimidation; a powerful orgasmic punch to my face. Other than these songs, the others are amazing, but just not as memorable. And the reason I am not giving this album a full 5 out of 5, is because these songs just aren’t very original in the world of The Mars Volta. This isn’t a band where a newcomer would have to listen to the beginning albums in order to enjoy the latter. It’s almost like episodes of The Simpsons. You don’t have to start watching the show from the first season, if you’ve never seen an episode you can watch any episode you find first and be able to enjoy and understand the premise. If you’ve never heard The Mars Volta, you can listen to this album and not be confused. Each album they have is a perfect interpretation of their type of writing. Therefore, this album, however mind-blowing it may be, simply isn’t original. And even when I write that, I realize how hard it would be for them to come up with something original. To sum it up, the only reason this album lost a start is because it isn’t really anything new, but it’s highly entertaining and amazing. 4 out of 5
Regina Spektor – "Far" Review (3 out of 5)
Admit it, even if you’re not a fan of the piano driven, singer-songwriter style, Regina Spektor is still your guilty pleasure. You more than likely first heard of her when she debuted her single “Fidelity” off her last album, “Begin To Hope.” That album had a pop-feel to it, even though it was really only in the song “Fidelity” and especially in the song “Better” (which quickly became my least favorite track on the album). Regina is simply amazing. If you are a fan, you love her ability to pair beautiful piano melodies with childish lyrics, giving each song a cryptic depression that makes your eyes tear up and calms your soul. Now that I have that cheese out of the way, let’s get to how I feel about her new album, “Far.”
“Far” is…good. It’s really an album for all of her fans. It has the pop smoothness that fans loved about “Begin To Hope” and it also has the quirkiness that “Soviet Kitsch” so eloquently gave. It’s almost like an audio summation of her career to this point. It opens with the song “The Calculation,” allowing the pop fans to rejoice and clap along, and then continues later into songs like “Machine” and “Dance Anthem Of The 80′s” letting the eccentric indie kids have even more reason to wear skinny pants and low cut v-neck shirts from American Apparel. The songs are good, the vocal melodies are more of what you love about Regina, and the instrumentation accompanying the songs give it a really nice boost. The only thing is, the entire album has too much of a pop feel and not enough of a balance with the quirk.
It’s very, very hard to have a Regina Spektor song not be poppy when the drums are added in the background. I’m not sure if it was just the drummer she found, but every time a song starts with its beautiful combination of Regina’s voice and her piano, I start to really enjoy it. Then the drums kick in and the whole mood and feel of the song shifts into something resembling Vanessa Carlton. Literally, the only song on the album containing drums that doesn’t have an obvious pop feel is the song “Machine,” and that’s more than likely due to the fact that it’s a programmed loop. This is, by far, her most pop album. But that isn’t really what bothers me most about the album.
Everyone who loves Regina loves her because her voice is angelic and her childish lyrics send shivers up your spine. Yes, her voice is still amazing, but you can’t help but cringe sometimes when she seems to push some of the notes in a couple of the songs. The opening track, “The Calculation,” has a second verse that starts nicely but midway through makes you want to turn the music down because she pushes two notes in the words “beating” and “bleeding” to the point of cringe. You think it was a fluke until the next song “Eet” when only 1:10 or so into the song you hear an attempt to make the loudest falsetto possible on notes that should have remained at a quarter of the volume. The song “Eet” itself is amazing, but the falsetto she hits nearly ruins it for me.
This is the feel for the entire album. Each song is amazing in it’s own way, but there always seems to be one little thing about it that should have been left out or changed. In most of the songs, you will listen to it and immediately think,”I’m not sure why there are drums in the background. The song doesn’t call for it and it would have been much more beautiful without them.” The drums and the beats in the background of nearly every song are a definite downfall of this album. Songs like “Two Birds” should have been left without drums and probably about 15-20 bpms slower. So many of these songs are pop when they shouldn’t be.
In summation, the reasons this album only gets a 3 out of 5 is because of the overly-pop feel, the few pushed vocals, and the overuse of drums. If you liked her single, “Better” off the previous album, then this album is for you (so is a Coldplay album). I know I may seem biased against pop music, but from experience of songwriting, producing, and A&R, I can pretty much tell you that pop music is the easiest genre of music to create and make popular. Hence, my distaste for talented artists going the easy route to make radio.
"Up" Review – 4 out of 5
This movie was so close to being a 5 out of 5. If you have seen this movie, keep reading and I will tell you why. If you have not seen this movie, do yourself a favor and see it, and then proceed to finish reading this review. This does contain spoilers. I am so bothered by one certain aspect of the movie that I am going to get straight to the point without any preceding babble about the rivalry between Pixar and Dreamworks and me choosing which I like better (Pixar) by weighing out their top movies (Ratatouille and Wall-E beat the shit out of Shrek and Kung-Fu Panda). This is a straight-to-the-point review because I saw it last night and I have to vent.
First off, the movie is amazing. It really is. Especially in 3D. It’s visually incredible, the voice acting is top-notch, and the story will have you balling your eyes out at times and laughing your ass off at others. Once again, if you haven’t seen it, GO SEE IT. There is, however, one major plot hole that I can’t get around. Here it goes:
Ok, so remember when Carl and the kid first meet Charles Muntz on Paradise Falls? It was a pretty awesome moment. They get to go into Muntz’s blimp and check out all the findings from his adventures and Charles gets to eat a meal with his childhood hero. Muntz’s reason for being on Paradise Falls for so long was that he was hunting a giant bird that everyone accused him of fabricating tales about (oddly enough, Carl and the kid were able to find the bird without any hunting experience or training whatsoever. Funny how that happens, right?). So Muntz is in the middle of telling the story about how he plans on capturing the bird and bringing it back to the United States after decades of searching so he can finally clear his name and let people know that he wasn’t lying. He actually stated that he wanted to bring it back alive; that he had no plans of actually killing or harming the bird. Then, for reasons of simply creating conflict for the storyline, Carl attempts to keep the fact that he and the kid already had befriended the bird a secret, as if Muntz’s plan was to capture the bird, kill it, and exploit it in the United States. Up to this point in the story, Muntz is seen as a good guy; an explorer who was wrongly accused of lying and is desperate to rightfully clear his name. Suddenly, the plot instantly points the finger at Muntz as the bad guy and a poacher of some sort. The story then continues with Muntz vs. Carl and the kid, the winning prize being the bird, whether it would be set free or taken to the United States.
This is what bothered me about the movie so damn much. Muntz was not a bad guy. The reason he was trying to sabotage Carl and the kid was because he was under the impression they were out to capture the bird and bring it back and claim credit for it themselves, ignoring the decades of work put in by Muntz. So not only was Muntz misunderstood and completely under the wrong impression of Carl and the kid, but he even dies at the end.
I know what the Pixar writers are capable of doing. Did you see Ratatouille? Did you see Wall-E? Those are possibly the greatest animated movies of all-time. Their story lines were perfect. The fact that the writers made such a huge mistake almost ruined the entire movie for me. True, it’s hard for me to complain about such fiction when it’s about an old man who ties a shitload of balloons to his house and successfully floats all the way to South America, where there are communicative dogs and a villain who according to his timeline, was probably close to, if not older than, 100 years of age. But in every fictional film there is still a realm of fictional reality, and if the plot crosses the boundary of that fictional reality, it bothers the shit out of me. The fact that later in the movie, the dogs even fly planes and have swooping attacks on the house, that doesn’t even bother me as much.
If the storyline stayed within the realm of fictional reality set up by the plot, the movie would have been over very quickly without any major conflict. After hearing Muntz’s story, Carl should have said, “Holy shit! Really? I totally just captured the bird by accident! Let’s go clear your name! I mean, I’d like to set my house down at the Falls so I can fulfill my promise to my dead wife, but that could just be a stop on the way! We can finally clear your name and then I can come back and live the rest of my peaceful life! Yay!” Even with that, they could have still had a great conflict. Muntz told Carl that there had been explorers there before that have tried to hunt the bird and take credit. Let’s say that a pack of about half a dozen explorers come that want to kill the bird and it’s species to make a dress out of the feathers for some random queen or something. Like if poachers came and they were the bad guys. There is just so much that they could have done to fix this plot hole, but instead they just continued almost as if it was due to laziness.
I know this review was long, and I apologize profusely to your newly-exhausted eyes. Reviews shouldn’t be this long and whiny. I just had to vent. And I know it sounds like the movie was ruined for me, but I still give it a 4 out of 5. It really is a fantastic movie. If you can look past this plot hole, then you will certainly fall in love with the film. I am going to now take a deep breath and maybe have a beer. Until next time, thanks for reading.
-The Dune Review
Green Day – "21st Century Breakdown" Review
Green Day, prior to American Idiot, was never taken too seriously as songwriters and proficient lyricists. They were the ones that made punk cross into the pop-genre. And don’t give me that The Clash excuse, yeah they crossed over into the pop market a bit but they were never a pop version of punk. Neither was Blondie or The Ramones. Green Day paved the way for pop-punk sensations like Blink 182 and New Found Glory. Someone actually told me recently that Green Day was punk for “kids who haven’t heard of The Descendants yet.” With American Idiot, they set themselves in stone as the epitome and perfection of the pop-punk genre. It was powerful, political, and comparable to what many consider as one of the greatest albums to come out of the 90′s: Dookie.
What came out this past Tuesday was their follow up to the 12 times platinum American Idiot. Obviously, it is a hard album to follow, and though commercially the album has some potential hits, it will in no way be as much of a success. However, it certainly isn’t from a lack of trying. Much of this album is highly over-produced, much like Idiot, but on this it seems like they tried unnecessarily hard. If you enjoyed American Idiot, then you’ll more than likely enjoy this as well. The songwriting is similar, the songs are bigger, and the lyrics are still very dominantly anti-Bush.
Personally, I’m not a big fan of it. If I was A&R I’d absolutely love it, but I’m not, so I don’t. Green Day is certainly grown up, and though I respect them fully for evolving so well as artists (let’s not forget that this powerhouse group started as three kids having a slang term for a day where they do nothing but smoke pot), I just feel that the over-production and opus-like themes lessen their authenticity and take them further away from what punk is. If you gave this album to anyone from CBGB’s in the 70′s, telling them “this is actually a form of punk in the future,” they would more than likely take their close-pins from their and continue to stab themselves in the trachea.
If you read other reviews like I do (nothing wrong and seeing what other people have to say to get a good perspective), then you’d read that many people think this has good throwbacks to the 70′s and early punk. My reaction is this: “Where?” The only old-school throwback on the album is done through effects on the intro track and the beginning of another. In terms of song-writing, there is absolutely nothing resembling the 70′s or any other genre outside the late 90′s. Goddamnit I hate Rolling Stone.
Here’s the breakdown for Breakdown: the guitars are simple, the songs are huge, the effort is tiring, and the single sucks. ”Know Your Enemy” (the single in question) is an annoying three-chord repetition that makes you want to puncture your ear drums with a prison shank. Ironically, if you read TDR a couple weeks ago, a track was leaked called “Hearts Collide” which we actually enjoyed, but sadly isn’t on the album at all. There was also a song which was not seen on TDR called “Lights Out” which sounds straight from Dookie. What happened to these tracks?
Aside from the non-existent b-sides “Hearts Collide” and “Lights Out,” the tracks actually on the album that you should pay attention to are “Before The Lobotomy” and “Horseshoes and Handgrenades.” The Dune Review gives 21st Century Breakdown a 3 out of 5.
And you know what? FUCK IT. We are going to give you both “Hearts Collide” and “Lights Out” cause we think those two songs alone are better than the entire album. If you loved the old Green Day and not sure about the new stuff, don’t even bother with the new album. Simply right-click the following links to “save as” and proceed to put these songs on repeat. You’re welcome.
Eminem – "Relapse" Full Album Review
The Dune Review has been all over this album and updating you about its singles released so far. So far, we haven’t really liked the singles. “We Made You” had the killer hook, funny lyrics, but the flow didn’t really flow well. “3 A.M.” had the best video and cryptic lyrics, but the overall song just wasn’t his best. ”Old Time’s Sake” was a cool beat and awesome chorus, but the lyrics from both Dre and Eminem were pretty weak. We were pretty disappointed so far and didn’t have the greatest expectations for the rest of the album. But for all you Eminem fans, you’re in luck: this album was much better than expected.
The opening skit is about Em finding a sponsor for his Narcotics Anonymous meetings. It’s pretty funny as he talks to someone who appears to be a demon trying to gradually convince Slim that he should start drinking and taking pills again. It flows into the next track and opening song, “3 A.M.” With the combination of the music video and this intro track, the single seems much better. His vocals are still annoyingly nasal, but the track is definitely a grower.
It seems like the singles released so far are the least memorable songs on the album. There are songs on this album that are light-years better than the singles so far. ”My Mom” is a goddamn masterpiece. And yes, I know you’re looking at the title thinking “why the hell is he talking about his Mom again, that shit’s old.” Well, thats what the songs about. The first line of the verse is “My mom, my mom, I bet you’re tired of hearing about my mom.” The whole song is another jab from Slim to his mom, but also a thank you for being the way she is, because he takes after her and wouldn’t be the person he is today if it wasn’t for her. It’s pretty funny and by far our favorite track on the album.
If you thought the vocals in the singles were far too nasally, don’t fear, because it’s really not as bad throughout the album. On some tracks, it’s pretty apparent, but there are a good amount of tracks where his voice is back to normal. It does help, however, that the album is 15 songs long with 5 skits. It gives you plenty of choices and plenty of opportunities to make up for the nasal-notes. But with the 15 songs, only half of them stand out as being good Eminem quality. With Eminem’s past albums, his bar was set so high to the point where his comeback would have to be huge. Don’t get me wrong, his comeback is going to be big; it already is. But that doesn’t mean the album is amazing.
Thankfully for you, The Dune Review has split up the album and is letting you know which songs stand out as awesome and which ones you could probably just skip. Here are the songs you could do without:
“Bagpipes From Baghdad” – weak beat, weak chorus, weak lyrics, weak song.
“Same Song And Dance” – good cryptic lyrics, but overall a pretty damn boring song.
“Hello” – overly-simple beat, boring flow, boring lyrics, boring song.
“Old Time’s Sake” – good chorus, cool beat, weak lyrics, mediocre song.
“Must Be The Ganja” – just another song about weed, overdone subject, annoying snare sample.
“Deja Vu” – verses aren’t that bad, the worst chorus of the album by far.
“Crack A Bottle” – song isn’t too bad until 50 Cent comes on. He ruins the entire song.
Here are the songs that make you happy to be an Eminem fan:
“3 A.M” – we didn’t like the song much at first, but the best out of his singles so far and it’s definitely growing on us.
“My Mom” – best track on the album.
“Insane” – opening line is fantastic, great beat, and he even mentions felching.
“We Made You“ – funny lyrics, funny video, good beat, but still too nasally and he tries too hard.
“Medicine Ball” – cool beat, good catchy chorus, lyrics aren’t bad.
“Stay Wide Awake” – 2nd best song on the album, hilariously cryptic lyrics, great beat and chorus.
“Beautiful” – very cool song, catchy as hell, pretty much the Eminem version of the Aguilera song.
“Underground” – awesome beat, no nasally vocals!!
Overall, the album gives us mixed feelings. We love the songs we love, but there are certainly about 5 tracks that should have been left off the album. Eminem didn’t have to have such a long album on his comeback. We’re happy he gave us so many tracks, but we wish they were all as good as they should have been. The good tracks on the album won’t leave our head, but we can’t help but only give the album 3 out of 5. But even with this score, the album is worth getting, or at least listening to.