GOAT – GOAT

Wither goest thou, GOATinto the inky night? The enigmatic Swedish psych outfit seemed to call it quits after their aptly-titled 2016 effort ‘Requiem’, but the band’s second arc has brought a slew of riches. The intense comeback ‘Oh Death’ was followed by two album projects in 12 months – the transcendental ‘Medicine’, and their much-hailed score for a telly adaptation of Ben Myers’ work The Gallows Pale.

Self-titled, GOAT’s latest eponymous feast is a kind of an ur-GOAT statement – frenzied rhythms and bullish guitars, it’s a work that not-so-much breaks on through to the other side, but demolishes the walls, the doors, the jambs, the windows, and Lord knows what else. It’s a trip, in other words.

Perhaps the most cohesive and impactful record GOAT have made since their debut, the highlights are many. ‘One More Death’ lingers firmly in the shadows, ‘Goatbrain’ offers other-worldly funk, and ‘Fools Journey’ transports you to a strange, unearthly pastoral realm.

Never ones to let the pace slip, ‘GOAT’ boasts some astounding, wonderfully over-the-top work. The primordial frenzy of ‘Dollar Bill’ for example sounds like an early Can rehearsal left to go feral in the Nordic wilds, while the curiously baggy-adjacent ‘Ouroboros’ sounds like a tribe of ancient warriors worshipping an out-of-time statue that bears a curious resemblance to Shaun Ryder.

Brimming with sensory overwhelm, ‘GOAT’ re-affirms the mysterious Swedes as being one of the finest vassals for truly forward-thinking psychedelia traversing inner and outer worlds this century. Digging down into their bedrock, the lysergic reverberations set forth from their alchemical drills are enough to shake the sturdiest of Christian hearts.

8/10

Words: Robin Murray