Gorillaz- 'Humanz' Album Review

Gorillaz- ‘Humanz’

It’s been a long time since Plastic Beach, too long in fact. But they’re back, everyone’s favourite alternative virtual band have emerged from whatever animation software they were created on and 2D, Noodle, Murdoc & Russell have brought a whole host of special guests along for the ride.

After their hibernation period (during which their non-virtual members Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett had a big bust-up and Blur had their comeback), Gorillaz returned rather unexpectedly with 4 brand new singles in March. They were 4 songs which all had their own unique vibe to them, yet still incorporated the nearly 20 year-old DNA of the Gorillaz which we have all become so accustomed with. These tracks certainly whet the appetite of any decent music fan and thusly the anticipation surrounding their new project was immense. And now, it’s arrived, so let’s get stuck in.

After the first listen, it’s rather clear what Albarn’s inspiration was behind this record. It’s a proper doomsday, end of the world, ‘fuck it, we’re all ruined’ inspired party playlist in which he has decided to invite all of his most talented mates round and said “Hey, let’s make something cool”. And it is cool, at least the majority is. Tracks like ‘Charger’ featuring 80’s songstress Grace Jones, ‘Submission’ & the previously released ‘Ascension’ are fun sounding, electronically backed anthems that successfully manage to walk the extremely narrow tightrope of tackling difficult topics like politics and impending Armageddon whilst still sounding exciting and enticing. However, certain tracks on ‘Humanz’ rather fail at this feat. Particularly, ‘Hallelujah Money’, featuring 2015 Mercury Prize winner Benjamin Clementine, is hauntingly tiresome and potentially too experimental for this kind of project. It certainly brings the whole album back to earth and is probably the most retrospective track on ‘Humanz’ however it seems a little too desperate, sort of like it is dreadfully attempting to give you a slap around the face at the tail end of this album that is simply not required. However, the climatic track of this record somewhat saves credibility with the positive politically fuelled anthem ‘We Got The Power’ which features a frantic beat and an infectious chorus in order to make you feel a little bit more optimistic about the future of our planet. Albarn does also display his emotional side on ‘Humanz’. ‘Busted & Blue’, the only song which does not have a feature on it, is a stripped back, melancholy journey that serves as a rather welcome relief to the listener on this mainly party-based record and gives them on opportunity to catch their breath midway through the spine of this album.

‘Humanz’ seems to me to being the first record from Gorilllaz in which Albarn has stepped away from the limelight. He has instead relied on a vast array of super talented special guests to provide the joy on this record. The variety of guests range from young hip hop artists like Vince Staples & Pusha T & Jamaican dancehall singer Popcaan to punk frontwoman Jehnny Beth and legendary crooners Grace Jones and Mavis Staples. This immensely talented conglomerate of stars enables Albarn to focus on fine-tuning his productions skills, skills that appear to be fairly well assured, he certainly seems to know how to make a solid dance record. Whether or not that a dance record is quintessentially Gorillaz is certainly up for debate.

One of the saving graces of the Gorillaz records of the past were their infectious hooks, tracks like Clint Eastwood, Feel Good Inc, Dare, Stylo & Dirty Harry were catchy, standout singles from albums which, despite these singles, still had a vast numbers of tracks which were awesome, yet not catchy. However, on ‘Humanz’ there is no standout single. No Dare. No Feel Good Inc. Nothing that you could imagine being chanted by a crowd in a huge arena, and this is one of the downfalls of this record.

‘Humanz’ is a good album, it’s a retrospective look at the state of our planet that incorporates a resonant, dancey vibe in order to provide the listener with a flicker of hope for our future. It’s potentially not as mind-blowing and as exceptional as some listeners may have expected after the group’s hiatus, yet it still offers a wide variety of genres and influences in order to create a decent overall project. |Despite how you may feel about ‘Humanz’, you have to be happy about the fact that Gorillaz are back, no matter how underwhelming (by their previous standards anyway) their return may be.

Overall Rating- 7/10

Fave Tracks- ‘Submission’, ‘Andromeda’, ‘Ascencion’, ‘Busted & Blue’, ‘We GotThe Power’, ‘Charger’, ‘Strobelite’

Least Fave Tracks- ‘Saturn Barz’, ‘Sex Murder Party’, ‘Hallelujah Money’