Album review: DoFlame – BENT

Mateo Naranjo is probably cooler than you. At the very least, his second album under the DoFlame moniker has him glowing with a sense of star power. Given the soaring popularity of hardcore and hip-hop, his coalescence of the two is timely, and he’s stormed out of the suburbs of Toronto to take up the mantle and tell the most visceral, larger-than-life coming of age story. In time, people will want to imitate him.

BENT engages anyone who listens with a mere snap of the fingers – the dark, chugging riffs that give Can’t Stand No One such power are immediately arresting, as is Mateo’s acid-tongued rapping. ‘Come from Brampton, not the Hamptons / Touch my family and get cut,’ he snarls. Elsewhere, the title-track rumbles and rages, built around a scratchy scream of ‘Injustice, unjustified,’ while he later tries on a retro sense of swagger for the fierce Mile End collaboration Flower City.

The bouncing Too Loose makes you want to immediately ask him for the address to the sweaty basement party that song is made for, while Rats’ choppy riffs pair beautifully with the sense of grimy, unbridled energy that’s found in spades on a Show Me The Body record. Fastlanes, meanwhile, holds onto that spirit but applies a lighter touch, its abrasive chorus screamed over the top of a slightly less intense but still compelling riff.

Later, Mateo wraps things up with an undertone of danger on the swaggering Find Out, where he plays with a tension-and-release formula in his seething verses and explosive choruses and it’s a genius combination.

Saying that he’s onto something here almost feels too modest – while still freshly in his 20s, his sound is the perfect balance between polished and gritty and crucially, it’s distinctive.

Outbreak, give this guy a call; he’ll cook you up a storm. Everyone else, dial in.

Verdict: 4/5

For fans of: FEVER 333, Deijuvhs, Show Me The Body

BENT is released on October 11 via Blue Grape