New Release Friday: Gorillaz Experiment Through 'The Mountain'

GORILLAZ: THE MOUNTAIN

SCORE: 79/100

This review contains topics such as grief, loss, and the ongoing genocide affecting Gaza/Palestinians - if any of these topics are sensitive for you, please consider reading a different review. 

The Mountain marks one of the most fascinating journeys that Gorillaz has ever ventured on, with heavy Arabic influences being drawn out to create one of their best pieces of modern music. 

This album uses posthumous collaborations to bring new life to the descended while Damon Albarn faced his own grief on a spiritual trip to India, and the resulting project is something unlike anything else the band has ever done - it's new, it's unique, and most importantly, it's real. Alongside Albarn Jamie Hewlett was also grieving at the time of the album's production - as both artists had lost their fathers around the same time. This led to an album that centers around the afterlife, death, and the grief that comes alongside it. 

Albarn's artistic vision blends world music and art pop with neo-psychedelia, Hinduism, Indian instrumentation, hip hop, and synth/electropop to create an album that is undoubtedly Gorillaz - just a new version of the group with new cultural influences and deeply personal reflections throughout this conceptual album. 

To help bring the departed back to life through song, the group uses posthumous appearances from previous collaborators that had worked with the band before their death; bringing everyone together for one last dance and reflecting on the people they have lost over the years. In typical Gorillaz fashion, The Mountain contains various different musicians and genre blends to create something truly striking and captivating in its sonic elements, and it may just go down as the most unique album to be released in 2026. 

Songs like The Hardest Thing make for the most introspective moments that the Gorillaz catalogue has ever had, with deeply personal and emotional songwriting leading the themes and concept of the album to new horizons, where few other artists are able to go and piece together as well as Albarn had done here.

For an album that has come over two decades into the band's career, it feels that much more ambitious. The Mountain is something completely unrestrained and unique in every way imaginable, and it's an album that feels like a highly acquired taste - it's meant for those who are willing to come along for a journey, not for those who come for a simple album. 

The Mountain is an album that was made with the intention of being listened to from beginning to end - it isn't an album where you can pick and choose tracks or only listen to the singles, it isn't something meant to scroll through, it's meant for those who are willing to invest their time into a piece of art rather than continuing to be a victim of modern technology and how albums have become a lost artform for many. It rejects modernity and instead creates something refreshing and much needed in its ideals and politics, and Gorillaz is a band that everyone should be supporting due to their massively open activism in support for Palestinians. 

For over three years now, Gaza has been victim of a distressing, world-shattering genocide being carried out by Israel, leading to the deaths of countless people - largely women and children. The genocide continues to be ongoing, and it makes showing your support and helping any way you can from where you are one of the most important things you can do for the Palestinian people. Various music artists have gone out of their way to showcase their support and donate to help rebuild the losses that the Palestinian people have faced during this mass genocide, and Gorillaz have been one of many bands to use their massive platform to do what is right and speak up against what is going on in the world; it isn't something that people should be able to ignore, it is something that everyone needs to be updated on, and it is something that needs to find a settled resolution as soon as possible. 

To show your support for Palestinians in this time of ongoing crisis, please consider leaving a simple click.