Guess Who's Back?

He's Shady. He's Marshall. He's Eminem and he's fresh from a five-year absence which saw our hero/nemesis do a stint in rehab for painkiller addiction. Like so many artists, Em is at his best when he has conflict to serve as muse for a demented mind and tortured soul that's more than happy to bear all through his rhymes.

The most refreshing thing about Slim's new album, Relapse, is the profound absence of songs dedicated to killing Kim or featuring his daughter. Hell, Kim isn't mentioned and references to his daughter, Hailie, are kept to a minimum. Instead, Em goes the pills and kills route, injecting his twisted humor into lines both phonetically and mentally twisted as he slips between addict and attacker.

Honestly, I didn't expect much from Em at this point in his career. Especially after hearing the lead singles, "We Made You" and "Crack a Bottle," both of which sounded like half-assed b-sides. Though there's nothing on Relapse that qualifies as an instant classic ala "Just Don't Give a Fuck" or "The Real Slim Shady," the majority of the album proves that 2004's Encore wasn't the last gasp of a brilliant talent free-falling toward mediocrity.

The album's best songs aren't its singles. Tracks like "Stay Wide Awake" and "Same Song and Dance" revisit Em's alter-ego Slim Shady's homicidal ways, painting him as a Hannibal-esque serial killer on the former and a celebutant-obsessed kidnapper on the latter. Like the best of Eminem's past work, his nimble word play trumps the source material.

"Beautiful" is not a Christina Aguilera remake, but instead an auto-biographical ballad that many critics are calling the best song on the disc. It's an epic that aims for understanding, a breath of fresh air on an otherwise dark album. "Underground" closes the album with Eminem killing off a laundry list of serial killers while sounding the most on top of his game since 2000's The Marshall Mathers LP.

The main complaint with Rehab is the choruses, which are often not on the same level as the verses they support. "Bagpipes From Baghdad" is the best example of a chorus not doing it's song the justice it deserves, but for the majority of the album's tracks, it's a minor gripe considering the fluidity with which Em delivers his disturbing diatribes on sex, drugs and death.

He's still self-effacing and self-loathing. Dr. Dre spits a verse or two and handles most of the production duties again. Christopher Reeves, Mariah Carey, and Britney Spears still remain targets. The album's formula even remains the same - dark and sinister rhymes co-existing with danceable club thumpers and skits featuring the usual suspects - Paul, Steve, and Ken Kaniff are all back. But, the most impressive constant on Relapse is Eminem sounding like he's got something to prove after being away for a half-decade. It's not the best album of his storied career, but Shady's back in a big way.