In the world of music, Gorillaz has always been a bit of an outlier, even when popular. From the release of “Clint Eastwood” to long-lived hit “Feel Good Inc.,” Gorillaz has been floating in the collective social mind for a while, but never quite at the level they deserved. For those that are unaware, Gorillaz is a virtual band constructed by musician Damon Albarn and comic book artist Jamie Hewlett. The band has a fictional line-up of members that work to create a bizarre world where truly unique music can be made. The cool part of this is that it can nearly fool an audience into suspending their disbelief long enough to embrace the fictional musicians as “real people.”

In that regard, though, I think the album falls a bit flat. Many of the songs feel like generic pop songs mixed with some of the Gorillaz’s aesthetic style, relying far too much on guest musicians. Listening to the tracks on “Humanz” didn’t make me forget that the characters weren’t real because it didn’t feel like they were from the outset. There isn’t anything that overly memorable. It is just there. There is an underlying political message throughout, but I don’t find it particularly overbearing or out of place.

Take, for instance, “Ascension,” which features Vince Staples. The song is short, but feels like a generic up-beat song you would hear at a party. This is not to say that it is bad, just not particularly memorable. Staples takes control for the wide majority of the vocals, with 2-D (Albarn) singing a few lines about halfway through. The Gorillaz have previously relied on music videos to create a separate reality where the band exists, but the video for “Ascension” is entirely uninteresting.

That isn’t to say that all the songs are bland. I really took a liking to “Let Me Out,” another track that relies on the outside forces of Pusha T and Mavis Staples. It is a soulful, cerebral track that makes use of a lot of sound effects to create a mental landscape for the music to play in. For me, this is the closest the album gets to a strong, memorable hook like “sunshine in a bag.”

For me, this just doesn’t feel like listening to the Gorillaz, but more like Damon Albarn had some songs that he wanted to release and used the Gorillaz’s name to put steam behind them. I don’t know if it is nostalgia for the old songs or if the magic just isn’t there for me anymore, but “Humanz” sits dead in the middle of the road.

2.5/5 Stars