Recovery (Eminem Album) - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

Recovery received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 63, based on 28 reviews. Allmusic's David Jeffries praised Eminem's performance as potent and energetic, and said that the album "may be flawed ... but he hasn't sounded this unfiltered and proud since The Marshall Mathers LP". Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph commended him for addressing more mature, introspective subject matter and successfully "framing his misogyny, homophobia and all-round bigotry with an undeniable sense of empathy and humanity." Jody Rosen, writing in Rolling Stone, called it Eminem's "most casual-sounding album in years" and said that he "sounds content to be rap's wittiest head case." Sam Wolfson of NME called him "self aware, technically advanced, intelligent, able to go at speeds other than full throttle". Sean O'Neal of The A.V. Club felt that his lively raps make up for the "endless atonement metaphors" that occasionally weigh down the album. Kitty Empire, writing in The Observer, said that it is "better than average" as a "latterday Eminem album" that shows, "in bursts, Eminem's health is very nearly rude." MSN Music's Robert Christgau said that, although the cleverness "varies" and the themes "rarely" upheld by his "long-recessive sense of play", the album is a comeback "for Eminem, not Slim Shady—and for Marshall at his most martial. His most confessional as well".

In a mixed review, Jon Caramanica of The New York Times regarded Eminem as "frustratingly limited in his topical range" and called Recovery "the most insular of all his releases". Andy Gill of The Independent commented that "there's nothing here quite as witty or engaging as" on his previous work. Pitchfork Media's Jayson Greene perceived a lack of lyrical depth and wrote "for the first time in his career, he actually sounds clumsy". Chicago Tribune writer Greg Kot said that it lacks hooks and fun: "The subversive humor is long gone, and his cultural references ... remain dated". Slant Magazine's M.T. Richards also found Eminem's pop culture references "inane" and called the album's material "unsurprisingly hollow" with punchlines that "rarely resonate". Los Angeles Times writer Jeff Weiss found his rhyme schemes "dazzling" and wordplay "clever", but panned its production as "monochromatic and monotonous". The Guardian's Paul MacInnes said that the music lacks consistency because of a "piecemeal approach to production" and "fashionable soft-rock samples".