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Damon Albarn’s animated Gorillaz have released their freshest album yet, Plastic Beach, an electronic dish, tasty and assorted as ever.

The anticipation was high since Plastic Beach is the first studio album after a five-year hiatus, and it delivers the goods. Always a band to push limitations, they have reached the far corners with Plastic Beach, which offfers a solid electro-funk base layer with guests ranging from Snoop Dogg to The National Orchestra for Arabic Music. Even Lou Reed and Bobby Womack make appearances.

With the success the Gorillaz have seen after 2005’s Demon Days and 2001’s Gorillaz, it is clear the time between has been used by Damon Albarn, the musician behind his band led by cartoons, to evolve and experiment with every aspect and style of music that he and the Gorillaz can get their hands on.

The Gorillaz know how to push listener’s buttons and they boldly go there.

They still provide songs that sound like the band that listeners know and love.

Tracks such as “On Melancholy Hill” and “Broken” are mesmerizing and reminiscent of the sound they developed on Demon Days. Even “Some Kind of Nature,” featuring Lou Reed, engages the listener with steady beats and lyrics of social criticism: “Oh, Lord, forgive me/ (some kind of mixture, some kind of gold)/ It’s got to come and find us/All we are is dust,” clearly lament the shallow materialist culture the band is repulsed by and engaged with all the same.

The majority of new songs feature a different artist or style, leaving no stone unturned and there should be a sound for any listener to catch their attention.

One track, “Superfast Jellyfish,” showcases the Gorillaz at their strangest, perhaps catchiest, as they rap and throw down about a hot breakfast.

The animated band mixes electro, pop and synth to speak praise of such a delicious meal.

“Glitter Freeze” and “Plastic Beach” include electricity and sound that sends a thrill of adrenaline down the listener’s spine as the songs combine synth tension with hypnotic beats.

“Empire Ants” and “Cloud of Unknowing” are electronic and luring, the type of Gorillaz songs that pull the listeners into their virtual world where characters head bob to their anthems, overdosing on the rhythms and layers of music.