Seven years on and the Gorillaz are back. Their fifth studio album, Humanz, has received more hype than any record thus far this year and promises to depict a ‘fictional’ dystopia that parallels with today’s modern world on increasingly bizarre levels that are immensely unnerving.

Before even listening to the record, the level of collaborators has to be noted. The entire album is made up of collaboration tracks all bar one which, whilst a trend that Gorillaz have used before, they have never done on such a scale. This leads me to think that the subtler undertone behind this record is the steady transition of Gorillaz from being just a band into more of a concept that unites artists under one creative blanket to experiment. Whilst a refreshing idea that does serve a very fulfilling purpose, I can see many fans being disheartened by the lack of the ‘traditional’ Gorillaz sound on the album.

Whilst writing, each featuring artist was asked to “Imagine a night where everything that they believed was turned on its head,” then use this idea to form their material. ‘I Switched My Robot Off’ immediately sets this tone and provides some serious atmospherics accompanied by a demonic voice that sends chills through the body. Just as quickly though, this is contrasted by the opening track ‘Ascension’ featuring Vince Staples, one of the four singles to be released as a part of the album’s promotion. The track rings Vince’s rapping style well, however it does border on the cheesy through the incredibly repetitive chorus, “The sky is falling baby…” but nonetheless still paints the apocalyptic overtones even further. We are then finally reintroduced to the first traces of singer and Gorillaz creator, Damon Albarn. As soon as his vocals begin it’s refreshing to hear the melancholy tones after such a long time and generates a sense of dismal life into the otherwise upbeat track that was very much needed.

Gorillaz have always taken an immense level of pride in never being categorised by one genre and Humanz is a brilliant demonstration of taking the best of the best and utilising them to form something entirely new. ‘Strobelite’ features Peven Everett and holds an immense level of funk, powerhouse vocals and a bouncy bassline which parallels some found on Demon Dayz. Others such as ‘Momentz’ featuring De La Soul, hold an industrial electronica which could not be more different. Whilst appearing on a number of previous Gorillaz tracks, De La Soul seem to have taken a more constrained approach from what we are used to hearing from them, holding a more mature tone to their rhythms. However the track’s spiking repetition of “Momentz" demands attention and keeps the track pulsing.

In amongst all of the collaborations, Albarn’s voice does appear to have been somewhat lost. The infrequent appearances are a serious let down and whenever he does appear you are constantly left craving more from him. The only exception is ‘Busted And Blue’, the only non-collaborating piece, and does bring to light the serious potential this album had. The silky atmospheric synth is beautifully mixed with Albarn’s voice and he still utilises everything that made Gorillaz great. The track’s incredibly sombre tones does possess some brilliant imagery, however if anything, feels almost like a memorial to the older style of Gorillaz above anything else.

Whilst it does seem that there are a fair amount of shortcomings on the album, there are equally some truly incredible tracks on Humanz. Both ‘Saturnz Barz’ and Benjamin Clementine’s ‘Hallelujah Money’ are equally fantastic for drastically different reasons. Not only serving as a tremendous reintroduction to the band’s iconic digital characters through the stunning 360 degree music video, ‘Saturnz Barz’ is a terrific demonstration of collaborations between contrasting sounds and the future of music, which is just what Gorillaz are all about. Meanwhile, ‘Hallelujah Money’ is brilliant for not only for its use of Benjamin’s outstanding vocal variation, but the message behind the track really does capture the record’s apocalyptic stance more than any other song on the record.

It would be incredibly easy to equate Humanz to being a statement simply about the Trump presidency and the disasters and wrongdoings of the modern day world, however that would be a great oversimplification. There is an immense level of depth behind this record, so much so that perhaps some has been lost in translation, but the notion of Gorillaz becoming more of an ideology than a physical band brings a great excitement towards the future of their music. Perhaps in a few years, Humanz will be considered an album that changed the world. For now though, whilst a relatively solid album, Humanz seemed to have promised more than it delivered. It feels as though too much time was spent on developing the band’s marketing via live digital interviews, creating apps and stellar music videos for the album instead of acknowledging the aspects which made this band so great to begin with.

I can see many having a love hate relationship with Humanz and, whilst the record is a fantastic demonstration of talents from a multitude of genres, it doesn't feel like a real record but instead stands as more of a collaboration album that merely features the band people wanted to see standing in the spotlight.
Ben Walker

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