instrumentals and said that they "make the album a sonic feast". Lyrics Doom's lyrics on Madvillainy are free-associative. According to Stereogum, the album "is about using sound to craft semi-indecipherable vignettes that are situated somewhere between the real and the mythical". Despite originally featuring a more enthusiastic, excited delivery, the leak prompted Doom to go with a slower and more relaxed flow on the final version of the album. This move has been praised by various publications, including Pitchfork, which said that it was "ultimately better-suited" than the original. Throughout the album, Doom uses a number of literary devices, including multi-syllable rhymes, internal rhymes, alliteration, assonance, and holorimes. Music critics also noted extensive use of wordplay and double entendres. PopMatters wrote, "You can spend hours poring over the lyric sheet and attempting to grok Doom’s infinitely dense verbiage. If language is arbitrary, then many of Doom’s verses exploit the essence of words stripped of meaning, random conglomerations of syllables assembled in an order that only makes sense from a rhythmical standpoint", the critic added. The Observer stated that "the densely telegraphic lyrics almost always reward closer inspection" and that Doom's "rhymes miss beats, drop into the middle of the next line, work their way through whole verses" allows for a smooth listen. Artwork The album cover art was created by Stones Throw's art director Jeff Jank, based on a grayscale photo of Doom in his metal mask. In an interview with Ego Trip, Jank said: The photo was created by photographer Eric Coleman at Stones Throw's house in Los Angeles, and edited by Jank. While working on the Madvillainy album cover, Jank drew inspiration from King Crimson's In the Court of the Crimson King artwork, however, following its completion, he noticed the artwork eerily resembled Madonna's Madonna artwork. Despite this, Jank stuck with the original artwork, labeling it as the "rap version of Beauty and the Beast". A small orange square was added to the final version of Madvillainy, due to Jank's thinking that the artwork "needed something distinctive", comparing it to the orange "O" on the Madonna cover. Release and promotion Two singles from Madvillainy were released before the album release: "Money Folder" bundled with "America's Most Blunted", and "All Caps" bundled with "Curls". The first single peaked at number 66 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Madvillainy was released on March 23, 2004. Despite Stones Throw Records