Review: Eminem's 'MMLP2' returns to original's wild wit

The good news and not as good: Eminem meets expectations raised by naming his new album after the landmark he released in 2000.

On The Marshall Mathers LP 2 (***½ out of four), he recaptures the original release's wild, clever, emotional brilliance in a flurry of caustic, brazenly honest, rapid-fire rhymes and aggressive beats.

So what's the problem? Once the bravest visionary in rap's underworld, Eminem spends much of MMLP2 gazing into the past, reworking early tricks and wading in nostalgia rather than forging a fresh path.

That's only a minor disappointment considering the undimmed power of Eminem's earlier works and the fact that he's sharpened his tongue and his skill set.

The 16-track album, which leaked six days ahead of its scheduled Tuesday release, began streaming Friday afternoon at iTunes Radio.

Anger remains a dominant color on the rapper's eighth studio album, whether in self-lacerating spiels or snarling tirades against enemies both real and comically cartoonish. He whips up a searing storm of invective in Evil Twin and subverts The Zombies' Time of the Season for the theatrically evil Rhyme or Reason.

On Rap God, Em rhymes at warp speed as he toasts hip-hop icons and gloats with humor and spite about his rise to glory :

Everybody wants the key and the secret to rap immortality like I have got

Well, to be truthful the blueprint's simply rage and youthful exuberance

Everybody loves to root for a nuisance

Hit the earth like an asteroid, did nothing but shoot for the moon since

It's a killer song marred by another unfortunate throwback: his slinging of homophobic slurs.

The king of verse perversity spits wit and venom with remarkable fluidity throughout MMLP2 in a return to the sharp, fearless, high-velocity wordplay of 1999's The Slim Shady LP, 2002's The Eminem Show and, of course, the first Mathers outing.

A few guests join in with mixed results. Rihanna, his duet partner on huge 2010 hit Love the Way You Lie, returns in a similarly poppish The Monster, and Kendrick Lamar throws some swagger into Love Game.

Nate Ruess of fun. adds vocals to Headlights, which addresses Eminem's rocky bond with his mother, long the target of his bitterness and blame. Here he's apologetic and eager to mend ties. It's an admirable confession. And a so-so track.

Eminem is at his best when he's at his worst: tasteless, immature, psychotic, incensed. Not the most attractive traits in a 41-year-old father, perhaps. But it works for pop music's antihero poet.

Download: Evil Twin, Rhyme or Reason, Rap God, The Monster, Love Game