"Humanz", by Gorillaz

I think most of you know this virtual band created by musician Damon Albarn and comic book artist Jamie Hewlett, called Gorillaz (and if you haven't, you should. Here and here, these are the most popular songs. Have a listen). Well, my first review will be about their latest album: Humanz.

After the release of The Fall, on 25th December 2010 and the single Do Ya Thing, on 23rd February 2012, Gorillaz announced they were on an "Indefinite hiatus", which allowed both Hewlett and Albarn to follow their own projects (including the latest album of Albarn's band, Blur: The Magic Whip). After this hiatus, Damon Albarn started to record Gorillaz's fifth album while Hewlett started to draw the ficctional member's new design, together with the story of Phase 4. On 23rd April 2017, the album was released.

This album has a LOT of singles: Hallelujah Money (featuring Benjamin Clementine), released on 19th January; Saturnz Barz (featuring Popcaan), Andromeda (featuring D.R.A.M.), Ascencion (feat. Vince Staples) and We Got The Power (featuring Camille Barthomier and Noel Gallagher), all released on 23rd March (which, by the way, is my birthday and Damon Albarn's birthday); Let Me Out (featuring Mavis Staples and Pusha T), on 6th April; The Apprentice (featuring Rag'n'Bone Man, Zebra Katz and Ray BLK), on 24th April; and Strobelite (featuring Pevan Everett), on 7th August. Between all these singles, the most successful one was Saturnz Barz, which now has about 60 million views on YouTube. I kinda understand why, though. It was a great comeback song, in my opinion, it didn't disappoint me at all. They have shown people that they were not dead, even after a five-year hiatus.

The Deluxe version of the album has a total number of 26 tracks. It may look like a monstrous number, but the album is actually about 44 minutes long. Why, you ask? 7 of those 26 tracks are Interludes (I'm counting Intro: I Switched My Robot Off as an Interlude). About 41 minutes in 19 tracks, I'd say. When I first listened to this album, I actually loved the Interludes, but after a year listening to it, I came to realize that the Interludes are quite useless there. I mean, sure, it is like an "intro" to the next track, and some of those Interludes actually work out, like Interlude: Elevator Going Up and Intro: I Switched My Robot Off (those two Interludes actually add something to the album. Two exceptions), but still: why though? Why do we need to hear some guy saying "I promise to be different! I promise to be unique! I promise not to repeat what other people say!" in front of a crowd who is repeating his words? I mean, yeah, I get the idea, but I was not really fond with it.

Also, between 19 tracks (not counting the Interludes), there are only 5 tracks I can actually consider to be "good" (and those are Strobelite, Saturnz Barz, Andromeda, We Got The Power and Out of Body). Then there are those who are okay, and those that I personally don't like. On the last category, the one I underline is Circle of Friendz. It is a lazy song, in my opinion. Damon Albarn and Brandon Markell Holmes are constantly singing "Circle of, circle of, circle of, my circle of friends" for two minutes and the instrumental has literally nothing special. You get tired of the song after 40 seconds and it is a terrible last track, in my opinion. On the other hand, there is Out of Body, which is probably my favourite track of the album. It is pretty cheerful and I love Kilo Kash's voice in there. Actually, I don't know if it is supposed to be Noodle's voice or not, like Miho Hatori and Roses Gabor have done before (here and here, respectively), but if it is, it totally mixes perfectly with Noodle.

Another weak point of the record: Where is 2-D? We barely hear 2-D here. There are even a lot of songs where he doesn't appear AT ALL. The album has a lot of featured artists, but yeah, we barely hear 2-D here. Between 19 tracks, the only one where no one was featured is Busted and Blue (a 6/10 song). Having tracks where other artists are featured is good, yeah, but it becomes the opposite when it occults the main artist.

This concealment and the radical change of the music itself comparing to the first three albums makes this record almost look like it is not even Gorillaz. If Damon Albarn (aka 2-D) was more present, it would have looked a bit more like themselves (it would be quite hypocritical to say Gorillaz would not look like Gorillaz without Damon Albarn's voice when I am really fond with songs like Rock the House and Left Hand Suzuki Method, where 2-D doesn't sing at all).

Now, I would talk about the music videos of Saturnz Barz and Strobelite, which I really liked, but that hasn't much to do with the record itself, so I think it'd be unfair to review the record considering the music videos as well.

So, I give Humanz a solid 11/20. The album was not terrible, there were some good songs, but it's a weak record when compared with their first three albums. When I first heard it, it was my favourite album of 2017, but then I listened to more and more albums, and I realized that it is not nearly as good as I thought it was. Despite all that, I still have maximum respect for Damon Albarn and for what he has archived as a musician ever since his first record with Blur, back in 1991.

So, what do you think? Do you agree with me? Express your opinion on the comments and I'll reply!