Having been ubiquitous under his many different guises a few years back, Danile Dumile had seemingly been pretty quiet recently. There had been the odd guest spot here and there, the odd controversy over whether he was actually turning up to his own live shows, but in Metal Face terms, very little to report. Turns out he's been busy making the most important album of his career.

Long an indie hip hop legend, it was difficult to see a place for this quirky man, his quirky flow or quirky beats within the mainstream. But with Born Like This, he certainly gives the impression that he means business. His name has been shorn of the MF prefix, though the awkward bugger insists that DOOM is always upper case, for no apparent reason: "all big letters but it isn't no acronym". He has compiled an impressive list of collaborators. The album comes in beautiful packaging. God, is he actually going to have a crossover hit?

Well, Born Like This certainly starts as if it's going to be an altogether more polished affair than usual. 'Supervillain Intro' actually launches straight into a pretty smooth beat, and it's a full twenty seconds before his alter ego is introduced via a B Movie sample. What follows is fascinating; at times more thoughtful and considered than anything else Dumile has ever made, but in the end containing all the same idiosyncrasies that make him a genius, but will likely exclude him from ever attaining mainstream appeal.

Firstly, there's the way his songs are constructed. It's worth debunking the myth that DOOM's music suffers from a lack of hooks. Sure, the song structures are somewhat unconventional; sometimes starting seemingly in the middle of a song ('Batty Boyz' - more of which later), at other times finishing as suddenly as DOOM gets bored. Yet Dumile's hip hop is some of the most melodic, hook laden around. Just listen to the cinematic string and brass of the Ghostface Killah featuring 'Angelz', or the old school floot loop he provides to back Empress Starhh Tha Femcee on 'Still Dope'. Sure, there aren't any choruses to speak of, but who needs any when you have word play of the calibre shown on 'Cellz', beginning with a sample of Charles Bukowski telling a prophecy of a broken, apocalyptic world, and ending with a DOOM verse equally as affecting?

Elsewhere, we get two reworkings of classic Dilla beats on 'Gazillion Ear' and the brilliant 'Lightworks', some classic DOOM beats revisited ('That's That'), and star turns from Raekwon (Yessir!) and Madlib ('Absolutely' - just hurry the fuck up and make Madvillainy 2 already). We also, unfortunately, get a pretty open dollop of homophobia on the aforementioned 'Batty Boyz', though political correctness struggled to stop me chuckling at the tale of "batman, head bobbin' slobbing Robin's knob". Ahem. Disappointing shit, nonetheless.

So yes, for better or worse, Dumile was born like this. The man has his flaws, and if this album proves anything, it's that his comic book horror stylings and unique approach to song craft will leave him forever in the underground. Good, we'll keep him, thanks, we want him to stay like this.