The Bat Cave

Genre: Rap

Release Date: December 18th, 2020

Song Rating Scale

1. Alfred (Intro) – N/A
2. Black Magic (feat. Skylar Grey) – 3
3. Alfred’s Theme – 3.75
4. Tone Deaf – 3.5
5. Book of Rhymes (feat. DJ Premier) – 3.25
6. Favorite Bitch (feat. Ty Dolla $ign) – 3
7. Guns Blazing (feat. Dr. Dre & Sly Pyper) – 3
8. Gnat – 3.75
9. Higher – 3.75
10. These Demons (feat. MAJ) – 3.5
11. Key (Skit) – N/A
12. She Loves Me – 3.5
13. Killer – 3.75
14. Zeus (feat. White Gold) – 4
15. Thus Far (Interlude) – N/A
16. Discombobulated – 3.75

Spin Rate: 7+
Average Song Rating: 3.5/5
3.5+ Percentage: 69%
Skip Factor: 11.5%
Bangers: 1

Thoughts: Eminem has kind of become a master at making incomplete songs. At least for me. This album is a clinic in making music that is mostly pretty decent but almost every song has an aspect to it that I don’t like. In “Book of Rhymes” the beat is horrendous. How are you going to have a song that says it features DJ Premier and he’s not even producing it? I was really looking forward to this collaboration and it’s not even a thing. “Favorite Bitch” features Ty Dolla $ign, one of the top hook makers in the hip-hop world right now, and his hook is TERRIBLE. “Guns Blazing” has a Dr. Dre verse and a hook that I just can’t get into. Even the songs that I like a lot tend to feature a beat or flow switch that doesn’t really work for me. The rapping on this album is pretty good, but that’s not much of a surprise – Eminem can still rap his ass off. He can also drop some ultra corny bars, but I’d say that his cleverness and rhyming ability still far outweigh these eyeroll-inducing lines.

I like Side A substantially more than Side B, but if you look at both of my reviews you’ll notice Side B has a higher average song rating. That’s because the highs on Side A are much higher than they are here, but the lows are also much lower (it’s also because this is the first album I started using .25 and .75 when I can’t decide between two ratings). Side B doesn’t have any pure skips, but it also only has one true banger. “Zeus” is a really good song, but I think it’s the only track where Eminem really puts it all together on this album. I’ll take whatever I can get from Eminem (well, not Revival), but I also feel like he’s just going to keep stringing together technically proficient verses while not making all that great of music.

Verdict: 6/10 (Recommended)