Review Summary: Eminem's Encore delivers a few strong trakcs, but the album in itself is mostly filled with filler.
By 2004, Eminem was already considered a legend. He released two underground albums and three very popular, widely accepted albums. Encore is in a sense like The 4th Batman Movie, Batman And Robin. It wasn’t as popular as the other albums, But it still has its moments. The problem with Encore was the pressure put on Eminem to release another classic album, so therefore the album has a rushed feeling. The songs and beats aren’t as nearly as strong as past efforts and the lyricism and rapping are a bit on the weak side. But this album in itself has a some good songs that save it from being completely terrible.
Songs like A** Like That and Just Lose It are more in themselves pop filler but some of the other tracks shine through strong. Songs like
Mosh and
Like Toy Soldiers bring strong themes of personal and political issues.
Mosh is a bush-basher with a stripped down beat similar to early hardcore rap and in particular stands out for its anthemic qualities. Other good songs include
Mockingbird a song bout Mr. Mathers neglecting his daughter put out over a soulful beat, and
One Shot, Two Shot featuring D-12 and more rapping about guns, but it’s done so well that lyrical subjects don’t matter. Some of the songs are good and make you want to listen to these tracks again, but that’s as far as the good aspects of the album go.
The beats on this album are seriously deteriorated and many of them sound like sloppy, G-Funk beats. While some songs do hold good with quality beats many of them feel rushed in. The beats match Eminems voice well but they’re so poorly executed that it makes the album hard to take in. Many of the songs on Encore are meant to be “comedic”. Eminem first started using his infamous accent and it does not work well here at all. Songs like “Rainman” and “Puke” use the accent and comedic sound effects to a degree where it annoys the listener. Over half the album is comedic songs with very few serious songs. This deteriorates from listenability and quality of the album.
Summing things up, Encore has It’s really strong moments In a few of the songs, but for every good song there seems to be a filler track. That’s why the album deserves a 3/5. It has strong tracks and beats, but weak tracks and beats as well.
Recommended obtaining option: download
