The eternal wait for Eternal Atake is finally over. After nearly 600 days since the announcement of the album, Philadelphia rapper Lil Uzi Vert’s sophomore album has finally surfaced.

From the outside looking in, Eternal Atake looked like it would never be released. From social media feuds with his own label (Generation Now), to announcing his retirement from making music, the road to the release of Eternal Atake was certainly rough. Due to his impressive debut album Luv Is Rage 2 and the few leaked tracks from Eternal Atake, the expectations for the album skyrocketed during the long wait between the announcement and the release of the record. But hip-hop's favorite extraterrestrial has finally returned to Earth with a truly fun trap album that lives up to its astronomical expectations.

Sonically, Eternal Atake is split into three distinct parts, each exhibiting and playing on one of Uzi’s talents as an MC. On tracks 1-6, Uzi raps aggressively over energetic, intense trap production. From the hard basslines and siren sample on “You Better Move,” to the assertive flows on “Silly Watch,” this section on Eternal Atake is braggadocious, unrelenting and illustrates Uzi’s inherent talent for producing club and house party anthems. From tracks 7-11, Uzi’s sharply melodic, auto tuned singing voice takes center stage. On Luv is Rage 2 standouts “The Way Life Goes,” “X,” and “Dark Queen,” Uzi established his extraordinarily entrancing singing voice, floating over dark, spacey, 808-heavy production to create catchy hits. Eternal Atake takes that same success and replicates it, allowing Uzi to diversify the soundscape of the album with tracks such as “I’m Sorry,” and “Bigger than Life.” The rest of the LP relies on a brilliant blend of the two aforementioned styles employed by Uzi on Eternal Atake, closing out the project with speaker rattlers (“Prices”), catchy melodic tracks (“Venetia”), and the brilliant remix and follow up of his viral hit “XO TOUR Llif3.” Closing the album with the markedly introspective cut “P2,” Uzi complete’s a truly enjoyable, bumpy ride through his intergalactic universe.

The segmented approach to the album is both a positive and a negative for Eternal Atake’s overall sound. On the bright side, each section works to highlight Uzi’s individual strengths, resulting in a few tracks which are some of Uzi’s best work. The opening track, “Baby Pluto,” sees Uzi experimenting with his flow, spitting rapid fire couplets over some of the best production on the album. “I’m Sorry,” taps into the lovesick melodies that filled Luv Is Rage 2, as Uzi tries to reconcile with a girl over an uptempo pop trap beat. On the track “Prices,” Uzi combines both his rapping ability and singing over a sample of Travis Scott’s track “way back,” off of his 2016 project Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight. With imaginative production and energetic delivery from Uzi, the track is a clear standout on Eternal Atake.

But Eternal Atake is, at times, a bloated project that overstays its welcome. Clocking in at 62 minutes long spanning 18 songs, the project is simply not sonically diverse enough to justify its length. Yes, the vast majority of the tracks are hits and there are hardly any skips on Eternal Atake. But few songs are standouts relative to the rest of Uzi’s catalog. At times, the album is simply not fascinating, as around the halfway point, the songs begin to sound the same. Risks are avoided in favor of oversaturated trap aesthetics, which is disappointing considering the proven versatility of Uzi’s artistry on previous albums. Excluding a few songs (“Price,” “Venetia”), the album is comprised of relatively generic trap beats, few which are truly inventive. And with only one feature on the album, Uzi has the sole responsibility of making Eternal Atake engaging enough to keep the listener on edge, which at times, he fails to do.

Although not particularly interesting sonically, Eternal Atake’s cosmic, cultic theme is explored in a compelling fashion. At the end of most of the songs, a sci-fi narrative is told, where Uzi is abducted by a UFO which is featured on the cover art. The album's narrative is accompanied by a mini film, giving a visual aspect to the narrative created by Eternal Atake. It’s an amusing and unique characteristic of the album, one that won’t be found in most trap projects.

Nonetheless, Eternal Atake is undeniably entertaining. As a sophomore album with some of the highest expectations for a project in recent history, Uzi delivers a pleasant surprise. The album’s constant delays and the pure spectacle and hype surrounding its eventual release have made this moment even sweeter for Uzi and his fans.

Favorite Tracks

Baby Pluto

Prices

Rating: 7

Listen to Eternal Atake here:

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