This year, Gorillaz turns 26 years old. Most bands never make it to this age, and far fewer do it without resting on their laurels. But collaborators Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett aren’t interested in simply coasting on their previous success, and their latest album, “The Mountain” once again proves that Gorillaz is one of the most unique and boundary-pushing bands out there.

While Gorillaz has always been known for genre-blending and global collaboration, “The Mountain” feels like a return to form.

The album builds heavily on themes that have been present throughout Gorillaz’s discography — identity, globalization and displacement — but centers them through a more personal lens of grief and reflection. Albarn, the music side of Gorillaz, has leaned into introspective songwriting in recent years, and that shift is especially clear on this album. At the same time, Hewlett, who designs the band’s visual direction, has returned to hand-drawn 2D animation after years of experimenting with CGI. This choice not only reinforces the album’s nostalgic tone but also highlights a commitment to artistry in an era increasingly dominated by digital and artifical intellegencegenerated visuals.

“The Mountain” opens with an instrumental track of the same name that perfectly sets the album’s reflective tone. Of the song’s seven featured artists, four are of Indian origin, and three are Indian classical musicians. India is not simply a backdrop for Gorillaz to perform against. Rather, Indian artists inform much of the album’s sound and direction. Sitar player Anoushka Shankar plays a particularly outsized role on “The Mountain,” performing on over a third of the album’s tracks, including this first one.

It isn’t until the second song, “The Moon Cave,” that Gorillaz begins flexing their genre-bending skills. It’s the kind of song that only they could make. “The Moon Cave” effortlessly mixes Indian classical music with Albarn’s signature Britpop sound and healthy doses of hip-hop and RnB. Here, the album’s theme of grief first comes into focus. Albarn sings wistfully about his father’s passing, his reflections punctuated by vocals from Bollywood legend Asha Bhosle (who sadly passed away on April 12).

As the song progresses, another one of the album’s key characteristics is introduced: the use of archival recordings. As a meditation on loss, “The Mountain” features snippets of music from many of Gorillaz’s now-deceased collaborators. In “The Moon Cave,” outtakes from Bobby Womack and Dave Jolicoeur find new life through the creative songwriting of Albarn and rapper Black Thought. Because these posthumous samples align so deeply with the album’s themes, they never come across as exploitative. Instead, they feel like genuine odes to the legacies of amazing artists.

Throughout the album, Gorillaz continues to experiment across genres, showing off their creativity in new and exciting ways. From Indian folk and Bollywood, to reggaeton, post-punk and hip-hop, The Mountain manages to span an incredible range of sounds while still feeling cohesive.

There are several standout moments across the tracklist. “Delirium” is easily one of the most memorable songs; it’s simple but effective, with a synth-driven sound that makes you want to dance while still being slightly melancholic. There’s also an added emotional weight to the track, as it echoes the legacy of The Fall vocalist, Mark E. Smith, and his influence on Gorillaz’s experimental sound. Tracks like “Damascus” reinforce the album’s themes of movement and transition, while also celebrating immigrant experiences by blending American hip-hop with Syrian dabke music.

Other highlights include “The Manifesto ” and “The Empty Dream Machine.” The former, a percussiondriven dance anthem, remarkably includes a full verse from rapper Proof, who passed in 2006. On the latter, Black Thought’s verse once again proves how seamlessly Gorillaz incorporates rap into spaces where it wouldn’t traditionally fit.

Outside of the music, the visual component of “The Mountain” deserves just as much attention. After all, Gorillaz is a fictional band, with cartoon members designed by Hewlett. Over the years, Hewlett has developed the band’s image through beautifully-crafted animated music videos. For this album, he directed an eight-minute long short film that leans fully into hand-drawn 2D animation. In a time where this style feels increasingly rare, it comes across as both refreshing and nostalgic, almost reminiscent of older Disney-style animation. More importantly, it reinforces the idea that Gorillaz is not just a band, but a fully realized artistic project.

Overall, “The Mountain” is both a return to form and wild change of pace for Gorillaz. Because of its unique sound, it might not be everyone’s favorite Gorillaz album, but it’s hard to deny how ambitious and thoughtfully constructed this project is. If anything, “The Mountain” shows that the band still cares deeply about what they’re making, even nearly three decades into their career.

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