3.5/4 Omegas

In a time where the sky is falling the Gorillaz have come to bring us back together by reminding us we are still humans with their fifth studio album “Humanz”.

“Humanz” marked the Gorillaz’s first album in seven years. The Gorillaz are a virtual band with four members, 2D, Russel, Murdoc, and Noodle. The two real people behind them are Damon Albarn who makes the music and James Hewlett who makes the visual accompaniment. Every album that has come out has many videos and pieces of art to give the listener enough to be able to picture the band in their animated form.

The album is the soundtrack of a party held at the end of the world. Many of the album’s themes such as man vs technology in “Busted and Blue” and turbulent political times in “Let Me Out” have this apocalyptic idea.

Every Gorillaz album has a unique sound. The band’s mission is to try and take all the best artists they can get when the album is being made and collaborate to make a fluid album that mixes genres.

The Gorillaz are known for their quest collaborators and this album is no different with only one song being just Albarn. Some of the stand out performances are De La Soul’s third collaboration with the band, “Momentz”, and Jenny Beth on “We Got The Power”.

Only two music videos have come out of this phase, “Saturnz Barz” and “Hallelujah Money”. Plenty of interviews have been done with both the real and virtual band having motion captured CGI versions of the virtual band appear. The visuals have been somewhat lackluster as of now, but there is news of possibly another music video and a TV show is also planned for 2018.

16 years after their debut the Gorillaz managed to bring something new to the table. Hopefully, the wait will be less than seven years for the next album.