The Swedish psychedelic wizards
Goat took a left turn into an almost bucolically trippy realm on their 2016 album
Requiem, trading in some of the fuzz and skronk of earlier albums for acoustic instruments sourced from around the globe. It made for a fine side excursion, suitable as a soundtrack for lazing about on an autumn afternoon as the shadows lengthen slowly. With 2022's
Oh Death, the band light out for a darker, more harrowing place, one where scuzzy biker movie guitars battle it out with ear-splitting free jazz saxophone blasts, and deeply funky backbeats provide ballast for flights of loose-limbed Afro-punk. The group focus much of their energy this time on danceable grooves; tracks like "Goatmilk" and the
Tom Tom Club-inspired "Under No Nation" have an undeniably propulsive feel and the layers of blown-out guitars, tough-as-concrete saxes, and howling vocals over the top add a sense of excitement and even danger. When they aren't getting feet moving,
Goat do their best to send listeners into biker rock nirvana ("Soon You Die"), a deeply hypnotic state with fuzztone and Eastern strings ("Chukua Pesa"), and avant-garde jazz heaven ("Passes Like Clouds"), and provide what sounds like the world's scariest self-help tape that comes complete with slowed-down voices and an amp-breaking guitar solo. That first song has some of the squelchiest, ugliest guitars this side of a
Davie Allan and the Arrows record, and whoever happened upon the effects pedal settings to get it deserves some kind of (tarnished) medal. The entire band should be commended for not making Requiem II, as that would have been an easy way to build on their success and maybe even become respectable. Instead of that path, they have chosen something louder, more threatening, more immediate, and completely psychedelic.
Oh Death is the kind of uneasy listening record guaranteed to clear the faint of heart out of the room while piquing the interest of anyone not scared to dip a toe into dark and ugly psychedelic music. It may not be pretty and it may not always be nice, but it's always thrilling and might just be
Goat's best record to date. ~ Tim Sendra