Review Summary: More like “King Geedorah and Friends.” Or better yet, “DOOM album with epic beats decimated by weed carriers.”
I propose a question to you - ‘what makes you love DOOM so much?’ Obviously, his great lyrics and epic productions come to mind immediately. But the underlying, wacky aliases he uses to deliver them should come to thought as well. The concept of King Geedorah – a golden, three-headed dragon inspired by Godzilla films – is a fun one, and paired with great lyrics and even better beats, this record should easily garner talks of excellence. That is, if a bunch of weed-carrying hacks didn’t intrude and decide to defecate upon DOOM’s efforts. This is musical sabotage at its worst.
It’s really a shame, because Metal Fingers offers some of his best production yet. The album is so surreal in a calming, relaxing way. Whether it be in the pizzazz of Next Levels with its lovely piano sample, gentle uptempo percussion, and jazzy horns; the simplicity of Anti-Matter with its low key, deep bass, and triple kicks-and-drums combo; or the spacey, Martian mood of Fazers, DOOM creates a serene, chill listening atmosphere with the fantastic production he crafts.
But sadly enough, the instrumentals he circumspectly composes are seemingly controlled by talentless guest artists. In fact, DOOM only comprises roughly 9.1% of the appearing artists list, which is occupied by eleven different artists (mostly Monsta Island Czar affiliates) on 13 different tracks (two of which are sample-skits.) The beats that would work perfectly for him, are ruined by wannabe, drug-holding accomplices. The best beat on the album, and possibly my favorite instrumental of all time, DOOM doesn’t even appear on, preferring to let three other rappers not of his level do the track an injustice, albeit a decent one.
Although, it’s not to say all the blame goes to Metal Fingers’ cohorts. On No Snakes Alive, he exhibits amazing flow, but confusingly enough, he COMPLETELY disregards the shape-shifting, slow beat and busts off rapid-fire speed with a delivery. And this nearly ruins a legitimately good song, as he’s completely out of sync. However, this mistake is a rarity, especially considering the misfit goons that keep popping up.
Nevertheless, DOOM’s lyrics are expectedly ace (“Gettin’ paid like a biker with the best crank/Sprayin’ like a high ranked sniper in the west bank,”) and keep pace with the high standard that he’s set for himself with his rhymes in the past, filling his verses with plenty of quotables. His obscure supervillain references, hilarious boasts, MC putdowns, and awesome punchlines are all present, as they form the second strong component of this album’s basically two-pronged attack.
With a great setup for the chance to do something spectacular, DOOM deflects the spotlight from himself upon others. And I hate to ask a rhetorical question, or to intervene and answer it myself, but the answer to the question, “What makes you love DOOM so much?” can be answered by simply, clearly stating “Not. This.”
