By Nigel Packer BBC News Online

The angry outsider with the chainsaw mouth is now a household name with a clutch of Grammys weighing down the mantelpiece.

But if fame and fortune have changed Eminem's lifestyle beyond recognition, they have done little to mellow him.

New album The Eminem Show finds him venting his spleen about the pressures of success and the various controversies he has attracted.

But if the shock tactics often feel contrived these days, the anger remains real enough.

Eminem takes a leaf out of Run DMC's book

Last album The Marshall Mathers LP attracted equal amounts of acclaim and fury, and the follow-up offers the same uncomfortable mixture of clever insight and dumb bigotry.

White America is a sharp analysis of his own role as Middle American bogeyman - while Say Goodbye Hollywood is a self-aware tale of the perils of fame.

Unfortunately he then reverts to type on Drips, a pointless misogynistic rant which tries to dredge up controversy for its own sake.

For all Eminem's bravado, executive producer Dr Dre is in many ways the star of the show - as he fine tunes that crisp, clear style which made the last album sound so fresh.

Square Dance is an effective blend of slow-treading hip hop and straw-chewing pastiche - while number one single Without Me nips along like a scooter in heavy traffic.

Elsewhere, bringing in Aerosmith for the riff-laden Sing For The Moment was an inspired touch - or at least would have been if Run DMC hadn't done it 15 years earlier.

Has Eminem become part of the establishment?

Beneath the strong production work and dazzling wordplay, there are hints that hip hop's slickest and sickest wordsmith may be running out of new things to say.

Cleanin' Out My Closet is the latest expletive-strewn outburst in the never-ending war of words with his estranged mum.

And the continuing claims to outsider status ring increasingly hollow given his position as one of the world's biggest and most heavily publicised music stars - not to mention the forthcoming film career.

The tough-guy antics are set aside for Hailie's Song - an almost-sensitive tale of fatherhood which could come straight from the Oprah show...or at least Jerry Springer.

And the brooding Say What You Say and 'Till I Collapse also seem some way removed from the strutting Eminem of old.

After the startling impact of the last album, The Eminem Show is a sprawling and less focused effort. But it shows he can still pack a lyrical punch when the (bad) mood takes him.

The Eminem Show is out now on the Aftermath record label.