Let’s be honest here: The Gorillaz was not built to survive past its fist iteration. This isn’t because it could not; the concept of a band existing only under Jamie Hewlett’s pen was very tenable. The lack of a proper human visage to the assembly let its members work manumitted from visually obsessed fans and gave the self-titled debut an air of freedom. No, the band wasn’t built to survive because Damon Albarn had found a maximally gifted and motley group of musicians for a one-off cathartic effort.

Miho Hatori (Cibo Matto), Dan Nakamura (Dan The Automator), and Tom Tom Club’s Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz comprised the first iteration, explaining the wild swings in musical influence. This coupled with Albarn’s soured position towards Blur made the release sound all the more, well, real. Well, Miho, Dan The Automator, Tina, and Chris are all gone, leaving only Albarn and DJ Danger Mouse, the curiously desired production novitiate. Demon Days is by far nowhere near as exigent or spirited as Gorillaz, but Albarn and Danger Mouse do salvage the effort by offering a darker orientation.

‘Dirty Harry’ and ‘Feel Good Inc.’ are the album’s sweet spots, both led by head-bobbing bass progressions and the latter accompanied by a facile, alluring kick drum and sneer and an acoustically driven chorus. Now, there is a definite program to the album’s construction, one that, at first blush, finds the prospect of repeated listens suspect. That previously described bass line seems to rush to the center irrespective of the song, and even though they enlist some extremely competent rappers like Roots Manuva and Viktor Vaughn (aka Zev Love X, aka MF Doom, aka Hardest Working Rapper Today), their repeated appearances make their deliveries stale.

But to simply take that construction and label it as indolence is malapropos. The darker nature of the album also leads to a sobriety in its arrangements, Albarn not once employing the low bass rumble with which he was so enamored on Gorillaz. Instead they go for a subtle and reticent blanket to it all, like the staccato Casio on ‘Every Planet We Reach is Dead’ and the backing vocals reminiscent of Thom Yorke’s at his darkest. ‘All Alone’ features an imploding break beat and Albarn’s vocals juxtaposed, one with his regular cadence and one much higher in pitch, creating a disjointed echo as he sings.

But again, Demon Days didn’t have to happen at all. By virtue of an unforeseen successful side project (6 million records sold to date), perhaps Albarn found himself obligated. Yet after Think Tank’s commercial success and critical declarations of it being a proper return to form for Blur, there existed little of the same impetus for the Gorillaz’ latest. Is it a disappointment? Yes, if merely because this version of the group was the result of a far more contracted vision and input. A third release would be surprising since it would probably lack all necessity of existence.