Album Reviews

Eminem

`Relapse'

(Universal Music)

Eminem once again brings out the skeletons from his obviously overcrowded closet in ``Relapse,'' his first album in five years. He comes clean about his struggles with drug addiction and other personal problems, and listening to his self-lacerating lyrics and rants, it's almost too much to handle. As always, he gets a kick out of skewering fellow celebrities Jessica Simpson, Lindsay Lohan and Kim Kardashian in ``We Made You'' (the music video is hilarious, too).

Eminem proves he still has the rap skills and killer rhymes to put newcomers to shame, but somehow it feels like we've heard it all before.

-Cathy Rose A. Garcia

Manic Street Preachers

`Journal for Plague Lovers'

(SonyBMG)

British rock group Manic Street Preachers makes a strong comeback with their ninth album ``Journal For Plague Lovers.'' With the help of star producer Steve Albini, the album was based on lyrics written by member Richey Edwards before he mysteriously disappeared in 1995.

James Dean Bradfield's voice is crisp and clear, while bassist Nicky Wire and drummer Sean Moore do solid work on the album. Songs ``Jackie Collins Existential Question Time,'' ``This Joke Sport Severed'' and ``Peeled Apples'' (which starts off with actor Christian Bale's lines from ``The Machinist'') show a very much-revitalized band.

Evgeny Kissin

`Prokofiev Piano Concertos 2 & 3'

(EMI Classics)

Russian pianist Evgeny Kissin, who overwhelmed Korean fans for a second time in April, brings Prokofiev's Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 3 opposite the maestro Vladimir Ashkenazy-led Philharmonia Orchestra.

This live recording is not suitable for background music, for it commands every bit of the listener's attention both intellectually and emotionally. In the second concerto Kissin spares no mercy in expressing the tumultuous, violent melodies, though he does this with incredible imagination and poetry.

The orchestra led by Kissin's countryman and famed pianist-turned-conductor, demonstrates impressive dynamism and dexterity in supporting the star soloist in the vivid third concerto.

-Lee Hyo-won