Review Summary: Marshall Mathers' enormous fall from grace, a sad blip from an artist who until this point had not put a foot wrong
As an artist held in the highest regard by the majority of hip hop fans, it would not be unfair for one to expect a certain quality from each Eminem release. From the release of his underground hit debut Infinite through to fourth studio album The Eminem Show, he appeared to go from strength to strength, with The Marshall Mathers LP in particular being singled out as an absolute classic of the genre and an essential work. And then came Encore.
This release is generally singled out as Eminem's worst release to date and this becomes immediately apparent when the first song kicks in. Evil Deeds is devoid of any of the energy that was present on his earlier works and this is where the album really fails. The lyrical content is not absolutely atrocious, although it definitely falls some way short of the mark that was expected of him folllowing masterpieces such as The Slim Shady LP. On many of the songs here, the raw emotion and power that Eminem's voice carried is just missing and the album suffers as a result.
It isn't even as though the album doesn't have enough problems without this one. Many of the beats are dull and uninspired, and the album is just too long. By the time the album is done, Eminem's audience will be bored to death from the sheer repetition on display here. Of the twenty listed tracks on this release, only six are listenable and half that number are actually good and can touch the earlier works in Eminem's discography. Mockingbird is a track that brings out the softer side of Eminem, feeling faintly reminiscent of the song Marshall Mathers, and it stands out as the finest track here. The emotionally charged lyrics about Em's daughter really tug on the heart strings and are a shining light on this album.
It is a shame that this album is ridden with uninteresting and flat out boring tracks such as Ass Like That and Rain Man, as fan favorite Like Toy Soldiers and Mosh showed a little promise and at least help to soften the blow of how bad the album is. Unfortunately, by this point in his career it would seem that Eminem had just lost the flair that carried his early works, and as such this sticks out like a sore thumb as his weakest work, and an album that fans should stay away from.
