His coat is gray, his face metal. He’s a rodent by day, villain by night — that is, unless “Adult Swim” is on. He’s DangerDoom, the much-awaited fusion between producer DJ Danger Mouse (fresh off the Gorillaz beat machine and with the most talked-about remix album of 2004 under his belt) and masked lyricist MF Doom (following up Madvillainy, a collaboration with Madlib that left expectations high, to say the least). With a little help from Cartoon Network’s “Adult Swim” characters, the duo’s oddball album The Mouse and the Mask easily stands out against the bullets and booties that flood the hip-hop aisle.

There was bound to be a theme here — Doom has too many alter egos to count, and Danger’s mouse costume is rarely shelved. But for The Mouse and the Mask, the pair has taken the cartoon concept to the next level: Meatwad and Master Shake of the “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” spit a few rhymes (or beg to), and even ever-serious guest Talib Kweli succumbs to rapping about cereal bowls and Saturday morning cartoons.

Doom’s lyrics are mind-blowing as usual (who else would rhyme “poo” and “igloo”?), and Danger rises to the challenge by delivering beats among his best yet, the samples seemingly straight out of a bouncy ’70s cartoon. Ghostface, Cee-Lo and Kweli make cameos for some of the most fun hip-hop in years.