#MADVILLAINY ALBUM REVIEW FREE#

His rhymes miss beats, drop into the middle of the next line, work their way through whole verses. In between the stronger moments instrumentals and guest rappers slacken the pace, but MF Doom's raw brilliance always reinvigorates the track. There's no time for repetition: Madlib's harmonicas, xylophones and church organs are busy slugging it out with Doom's alcoholics, supervillains and B-movie episodes. The sloth is an act - the duo move through 22 tracks in 46 minutes without a single chorus.

Madlib's beats, crafted with a jazzman's careful carelessness, fit well with Doom's slurred delivery and cultivated torpor. This new partnership with Madlib is a bid for commercial stability, and at first listen it's a good match. Doom's production, which he usually handles himself, exhibits the same unpredictability. When one reporter asked Doom about King Geedorah, he hung up when the reporter called back, 'Geedorah' answered the phone. Doom, real name Daniel Dumile, is a chronically split personality: his aliases range from positive rapper Z-Love X to King Geedorah, a giant gold-plated lizard. He wears the mask on stage and refuses to be photographed without it: a full-face crown that, by hiding his real identity, gives him reign over a whole kingdom of selves. The comic-book collaboration MadVillain - west-coast producer Madlib and villainous NYC rapper MF Doom - would be nothing without Doom's ever-present metal mask.

#MADVILLAINY ALBUM REVIEW FREE#

A superhero's powers are set free by his costume.

Madvillainy album review