Gorillaz’ New Comeback and Why We Should All Be Excited

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By Kay Joseph I September 2025

A studio overrun by zombies, a floating island blown up by a deranged label manager and the bassist as part of a murder plot on the guitarist, a battle with the Boogieman on an island made of plastic waste and a sticky gloop of oil and a thousand untold stories, starting a cult and nearly escaping death – again – and in March 2026, they’ll travel to Mumbai to go on a journey about, well, death. The members of Gorillaz will never be bored, that is for sure. Both the virtual and the real-life ones.

Did I intrigue you a little? Maybe a little, right? You can admit it.

Two years after the release of their latest album, “Cracker Island”, promotions for Gorillaz’ new era, “The Mountain”, dropped a couple of days ago. If you’ve never heard of Gorillaz,  or the name sounds familiar, let me help you out. Gorillaz are an English virtual band made by Damon Albarn – a familiar name for fans of the britpop band Blur – and artist Jamie Hewlett. It consists of four fictional members: 2-D (lead singer), Murdoc Niccals (bass), Noodle (guitar) and Russel Hobbs (drums). Their universe is presented through media such as music videos, interviews and short cartoons.

Both Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett were dissatisfied with how manufactured the music industry was becoming with the upcoming boyband craze of the late nineties and decided that a manufactured band was the perfect voice against it. Their self-titled, debut album dropped in 2001 with hits like “Clint Eastwood” and “Tomorrow Starts Today”, blending alternative rock with a variety of styles like dub, hip-hop and electronic music. The album also included features from artists such as Del the Funky Homosapien and Cibo Matto’s Miho Hatori – who provided the vocals for band member Noodle. Bringing artists together across the world and blending genres in their music would become one of the integral parts of the band and their debut album served as a solid foundation. 

Their sound also creates a unique sonic palette. It is not often that you hear funk, reggae and rock joined together on an album, but “Demon Days” pulled it off. And what a success it was – it topped the UK charts on its release in 2005. Artist De La Soul featured on their most popular song to date, “Feel Good Inc.” and Bootie Brown embodied the hip-hop element of the band on “Dirty Harry”. Listening to the album – although the theme is darker than its predecessor – is truly a joy and remains my favourite Gorillaz album. 

The virtual band truly grew out to be a celebration of music, bringing artists together all over the world and the music industry by collaborating with them. Their album, “Humanz”, proves a good example of this, with genres varying from soul to hip-hop to pop to rock to funk. It’s an all encompassing, 26-song album with a little bit of everything. To sum up, Gorillaz’ genre is unique in blending several of them together, while inviting artists from different corners of the industry. 

As mentioned before, Gorillaz was created to speak out against the manufactured music industry – and their political messages didn’t end there. Their 2010 album, “Plastic Beach”, discusses pollution, environmentalism and careless consumption. “Humanz”, released in 2017, is described by Damon Albarn as an emotional reaction to politics and a party to the end of the world, taking inspiration from the US presidential election in 2016 (he later removed all references to Donald Trump). “Demon Days” discussed topics like post 9/11 wars, greed, violence and mental health issues like depression and loneliness, with every song serving as another ‘demon’. 

artwork by Violet Lyons-Dolman

Gorillaz makes use of an overarching storyline throughout their albums. These are called ‘Phases’ and the upcoming album marks ‘Phase Eight’. Since the lore is woven through their content, it is important to understand what led up to the events of “The Mountain”. There is a good twenty-five years of lore, and I will walk you through what I think is most vital to know when listening to the new album.

“Cracker Island” left us with Gorillaz settling in a mansion in Los Angeles to wait out the restoration of their studio back in London. It is during this time, that Murdoc becomes increasingly interested in the occult. He founded the supernatural cult, ‘The Last Cult’, and hoped to impress their next-door neighbours, who turned out to be another cult called ‘The Forever Cult’. 

They almost sacrificed 2-D, who was recruited by the cult, they got arrested because they were at the crime scene, and LAPD searched their mansion, causing them to flee to New York. From an old friend of Murdoc’s, the members obtained four fake passports and travelled to Mumbai, which is where “The Mountain” will pick the lore up.

What the exact storyline will be is not clear yet. All we know is that “The Mountain” follows the story of what happens when the animated band relocates to Mumbai with the help of four fake passports, but looking at the artwork that Gorillaz released on their Instagram, I am very sure that it won’t disappoint. The visuals are gorgeous!

Next to the stunning visuals, the music is promising if we were to believe the makers. They already released “The Happy Dictator”, featuring the pop rock duo Sparks, which sounds exactly like the title suggests; happy. However, it has sinister and dark undertones. Damon Albarn himself said on Radio 1 that the song is inspired by his visit to Turkmenistan, where the ruling dictator wants to keep his people happy by preventing the press from reporting bad news. I think this pretty much sets the precedent for what’s to come.

Back to the music. “The Mountain” is described as “an expansive sonic landscape”, produced by Gorillaz themselves (Damon Albarn, Jamie Hewlett and since 2019, Remi Kabaka Jr.), James Ford, Samuel Egglenton and Argentine producer Bizarrap. Whilst they go on a fictional journey, Albarn and Hewlett say the album was inspired by their travels to India, but also the personal loss they both experienced during that time. 

Damon Albarn explains in an interview with the Rolling Stone that the effect of grief and sadness had to play out, but they both found comfort in the attitudes towards death in Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism, in comparison to their own background from a fundamentally Anglo-Christian society. They ultimately had one particular idea in mind for the new album and that is to make death seem cool. There is an enduring appeal of animated characters as an escape from the gritty reality of the real world. In the context of “The Mountain”, the virtual band members are perfect to take this journey and make the transition between life

and death more optimistic. 

Collaborating with various artists and blending genres are,  as discussed before,  an integral part of their concept and when taking a look at their upcoming album, they deliver on that once again. This includes artists such as IDLES, Bobby Womack, Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Most Def) and a variety of Indian artists like Amaan Ali Bangash, Ayaan Ali Bangash, Anoushka Shankar and Ajay Prasanna. Next to the broad range of artists, the album features songs in five languages: English, Arabic, Spanish, Hindi and Yoruba.

According to the founders, we are supposed to listen to it from beginning to end. We have to take our time to sit with earphones, look at the artwork – for there will be a book of illustrations accompanied with the album – and lose ourselves in the storyline. It is specifically designed to bring back the idea of taking time to invest in something, instead of the culture of doomscrolling. So no cherry picking, no hopping through the album or putting it on shuffle. Listen, enjoy and experience.

Even though Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett have talked about the album and their influences, with Gorillaz you still never know exactly what you can expect. They seem to reinvent themselves with every album, discovering new styles and working with artists that bring something refreshing to their art. They are making what they want to make instead of following what the music industry is catering to. All of this combined, along with their amazing virtual concept, makes up the charm of Gorillaz: a timeless, unique and innovative band that makes music that connects and provokes. 

I am certainly looking forward to their comeback on March 20 next year, and I hope after reading this, you are too.