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10.0
143792
10.0 |
The Independent
The album’s posthumous contributors remind us that music can keep ghosts alive and – by spinning outtake samples of vanished voices into new forms – even serve as a kind of reincarnation
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10.0
143794
10.0 |
Evening Standard
After 25 years Gorillaz are making music more ambitious than ever, reaching now for the higher ground away from the apocalyptic earth
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9.0
143787
9.0 |
Uncut
Its 15 tracks are filled with cheery major-key singalongs, sitar-soaked synth-pop bangers and whimsical waltzes that serve as ecstatic celebrations of life, rebirth and reinvention
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9.0
143797
9.0 |
All Music
The emotional backbone of The Mountain, however, pushes that expert musicianship beyond the typically reliable Gorillaz sound and into new territory, adding more heart and humanity than this cartoon crew has ever mustered
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9.0
143841
9.0 |
musicOMH
By some distance their most ambitious album yet, this multilayered musical tour de force brings meaningful strands of hope to death, chaos and delirium
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9.0
143842
9.0 |
Clash
This is an album which proves Gorillaz can stretch their sound even further while remaining entirely in control
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9.0
143858
9.0 |
Under The Radar
The Mountain might be a bit of a hard listen at first, but if you give it time, you’ll appreciate it as one of the finest things Albarn has ever made
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8.6
143860
8.6 |
Spectrum Culture
After a string of albums that ranged from slapdash to merely good, Albarn returns refreshed and hungry to do something big.
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8.5
143818
8.5 |
Northern Transmissions
It would be easy to suggest that there is too much on this album, but Gorillaz as a project has always been so chock-full of collaborators, stories, places, and ideas. And that’s the point
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8.4
143892
8.4 |
Sputnik Music (staff)
The mountain may loom, heavy and immovable, but the act of climbing it is where renewal begins
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8.0
143876
8.0 |
The Irish Times
Damon Albarn looks past Western music for inspiration but album never sounds like the meanderings of a tourist
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8.0
143798
8.0 |
Hot Press
Powerful reflections on mortality from Damon Albarn and Co
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8.0
143822
8.0 |
DIY
Gorillaz are really going for it
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8.0
143825
8.0 |
NME
Damon Albarn, Jamie Hewlett and their cartoon counterparts get deep on this spiritual tour of sound with guests from this world and the next
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8.0
143834
8.0 |
The Line Of Best Fit
The Mountain feels deeper and more emotionally resonant than any of its predecessors: for all the project’s other merits, it’s rarely been appropriate to describe Gorillaz as beautiful, profound or moving
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8.0
143788
8.0 |
Mojo
Gorillaz's most ambitious (and moving) record to date
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8.0
143789
8.0 |
Record Collector
A rich, rewarding take on living with and after loss, brimming with feeling, character and vibrant pop purpose. Print edition only
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8.0
143772
8.0 |
Slant Magazine
The album is exemplary of the ways in which art can be used to exorcise grief
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8.0
143773
8.0 |
Rolling Stone UK
Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett acutely tackle their own experiences of mortality. The result is something unexpectedly beautiful
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8.0
143775
8.0 |
The Skinny
Gorillaz explore life, death and what comes next on their ninth album The Mountain
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8.0
143793
8.0 |
The Guardian
Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett’s cartoon band mark 25 years with an album inspired by India and shaped by loss, featuring collaborators living and dead
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7.0
143806
7.0 |
Spill Magazine
On this album, Hewlett’s part of The Mountain is probably the most intricate, detailed and complex work he has ever done for Gorillaz
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6.7
143848
6.7 |
Pitchfork
The animated band’s ninth album gathers collaborators both living and departed for a characteristically audacious monument to grief, India, and archival memory
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6.0
143863
6.0 |
Exclaim
It's an album that finds comfort in knowing that all things — all beings — end, but they return, in one way or another. Gorillaz did
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6.0
143829
6.0 |
The Arts Desk
Even in its most contemplative moments, the album avoids becoming heavy or distant
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5.0
143802
5.0 |
Far Out
A mere messy mixtape
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5.0
143820
5.0 |
Paste Magazine
Inspired by a visit to India, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett ground their musings on the afterlife in warm, gorgeous instrumentation with a clear, cohesive thematic anchor, but the style ultimately overwhelms the substance
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5.0
143795
5.0 |
A.V. Club
Inspired by a visit to India, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett ground their musings on the afterlife in warm, gorgeous instrumentation with a clear, cohesive thematic anchor, but the style ultimately overwhelms the substance
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