Album Review: “The Mountain” by Gorillaz

BY: JACKSON WELLS / STAFF WRITER

Credit: Paste Magazine

The Mountain is Gorillaz’s ninth studio album over their 25-year-long career as a band, which was released on February 27th, 2026. Coming off their underwhelmingly reviewed previous project release, Cracker Island, fans were very eager to see how Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett would redeem themselves next, and The Mountain blew those expectations out of the water.

For some context, both Albarn and Hewlett’s fathers, as well as Hewlett’s mother-in-law, passed away in a short period of time. In order to process the grief, they retreated to India, not only to heal, but to create music in a very different environment. One where their demise isn’t perceived as negative; it’s celebrated respectively by Buddhists and Hindus alike.

Across many different studios in India, they worked with Asha Bhosle and Asha Puthli on vocals, Anoushka Shankar and Rodrigo Bourganos on the sitar, Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash playing the sarod, Barat Singh on the tabla, and Ajay Prasanna playing the bamboo flute in order to fuse classical and contemporary Indian instrumentation together. 

With death playing a crucial role in the concept of the album, Albarn enlisted some previous Gorillaz collaborators who have passed away, such as Dennis Hopper, Bobby Womack, David Jolicoeur of De La Soul, Tony Allen, Proof of D-12, and Mark E. Smith of The Fall, via unused vocal takes recorded with Albarn years prior. 

Even with the depressing central theme, the LP is far from sad. The sound is extremely welcoming, combining synth pop, Shastriya Sangeet, hip-hop, and psychedelic production, exploring rebirth in life, all the while detailing some pretty heavy lyrics. 

Running through the tracklist, the first song, The Mountain, is described as “a metaphor for the journey of life”, with its instrumental progressions creating beautiful soundscapes, introducing not only the worldly sounds found throughout the runtime, but it also sets the thematic tone for what’s to come. 

The Moon Cave is representative of suppressing feelings in a cavern-esque chamber, and following that, The Happy Dictator touches on false promises and the life one would lead in delusion. The Hardest Thing is a tribute to loss in death, yet in contrast, Orange County is a tribute to loss in life. The Empty Dream Machine speaks on recovery understood via spiritual search, and The Plastic Guru explores common themes of facetiousness for one's own gain.

Continuing on, Delirium challenges outside forces of horror with action, while The Sweet Prince specifically depicts the final moments of Damon Albarn’s father in 2024. Ending with the outro, The Sad God, the band brings back the musical themes from the title track to create an endless cycle of being, depicting God and its vast disappointment with us humans.

Beyond The Mountain’s music itself, Gorillaz had various rollouts, more intentional than just a big tour and expensive merch, although that exists too. They opened special exhibits across the world, showcasing Gorillaz’ history in a museum setting, and they screened a hand-drawn short film titled The Mountain, the Moon Cave and the Sad God at select theaters, alongside a documentary showcasing the making of the album, now both available on YouTube.

To high critical and audience acclaim, people are the most excited about the virtual band since 2017’s Humanz, and for a beautiful reason. In a time of Earthly division, the honoring of life and the culture around us can bring us together in a way nothing other than artistic expression can.