The first installment of Kid Cudi's Man on the Moon series was released in 2009, when he was just starting to establish himself as a distinctive creative force. The debut studio album from the Brooklyn-based, Cleveland-bred rapper expanded on the stark emotional landscapes blueprinted by Kanye West's 808s and Heartbreak just a year earlier, with Cudi inspecting his insecurities, anxieties and other various demons with a shocking vulnerability that was still uncommon on rap records at the time. Cudi's combination of lyrical openness and stardusted production felt fearless and new, and the personality that came into form on 2009's Man on the Moon: End of Day would influence the next wave of emotionally charged rappers. In the decade that followed, Cudi himself experimented with styles and approaches while perpetually battling his demons, to various degrees of success. Man on the Moon, Vol 3: The Chosen represents both a return to form for Cudi as much as a distillation of his most successful experiments with genre and delivery. Production on preceding albums could be somewhat uneven or jarringly ragged, but production values throughout MotM3 are bold and pristine. Spacy synths and enormous drums give the record a cinematic, almost sci-fi atmosphere, applying cosmic touches to both catchy pop-trap tracks like "Tequila Shots" and "Damaged" and more driving rock-inspired numbers like "The Void." The moody sung vocal lines and nocturnal energy that defined some of Cudi's best early material are revisited on album standout "Solo Dolo, Pt. III," and the anguished autotuned hook of "Sad People" is similar. There are a few moments that disrupt the album's flow, in particular the confusing guitar twang of "Elsie's Baby Boy (flashback)," the overly dramatic bombast of "She Knows This," and the less-than-essential "Rockstar Knights," which finds Cudi descendant Trippie Redd bellowing hollow lyrics about a self-destructive lifestyle. For every bland or fumbling track, there's one where Cudi successfully evolves his musical language. The glowing "Lovin' Me" pairs cinematic percussion and '80s movie synths with gliding sung verses and guest vocals from indie songwriter Phoebe Bridgers. On the other end of the spectrum, "Show Out" takes cues from drill for both its distortion-heavy instrumental and the relentless flows that Cudi zings back and forth with guests Pop Smoke and U.K. grime MC Skepta. MotM3 marries My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy-level blockbuster production with Kid Cudi's distinctively troubled lyrical perspectives and gift for spaced-out late-night atmospheres. Cudi wrestles with the same struggles that have plagued him since he began sharing the complexities of his internal world, but at its best, Man on the Moon, Vol 3: The Chosen shows that years of struggle have yielded substantial growth. ~ Fred Thomas