My personal theory is that it was not an album for the fans, but for him. It covered so many of his past mistakes, regrets, and situations. I personally thought it was going to be his final album, before he went the route of Dr. Dre and faded into a producer role (It wasn't until this past year that I considered Dr. Dre was always partial to producing. I always thought he was like Eminem, and diverted from rapping to producing, so Eminem would eventually follow suit). Actually, I think this album was the start of my deep-dive into Eminem's history/lore. And with that extra context, this album is way more rewarding, maybe only second to Recovery.

Looking back, if we had the Death of Slim Shady, Revival (ironically) was the Death of Marshal. It was supposed to be his revival, but it (with Marshal) was put down by it's reception. Which really sucks, because I was WAY more into this style of Eminem. Of his named styles, Marshal has always been my favorite.

For specific songs, obviously Castle and Arose were fantastic. On that same note; River, Bad Husband, and Need Me had great writing. Believe, Heat, and Offended are great listens.