Review Summary: Oh my Goat. They're back.
I've done a lot of procrastination lately. Sometimes the cause was a hellish last week and the proper self-patting in the back because I honestly thought I deserved a break, and sometimes it was just videogame addiction kicking in because a Korean studio that no one knew about decided to create a Pinocchio game that looks and plays like Bloodborne. In the midst of it all, one of my favorite psychotropic bunch of Swedish weirdos released a new album. Usually that would set my reviewer alarm on, and my fingers would just type on their own while I sleep, but this time they didn't, and apart from the aforementioned behavioral issues, the truth is that I didn't know how this new album by Goat was making me feel until a week later.
Rewind a couple of years ago when the Sweds released a compilation titled
Headsoup. The material encapsulated in that collection of b-sides, alternative versions and other discarded material landed ironically as one of my favorite albums of 2021, even if it was just a collection of rarities. When
Oh Death dropped last year as a follow-up, I was immediately thrilled, and soon after, hopelessly deceived. Something was off.
Oh Death presented Goat as if they were lost in their own madness, adrift, without any real standout track to hold on to or anything that pulled me back with the same alluring power of their past releases. It was psychedelia in full swing, to the point of that it would feel like desert sand through my fingers. Warm and comforting but also elusive and excessively soothing.
Medicine continues that trend, in a way. Vocals are underused again, there are long instrumental passages that sound like the band is lost at times between meandering jams and aimless songwriting but after a whole week of ceaseless jamming that almost felt like a trance at times, I've started to discern what makes this sixth full length (fifth if you don't count the soundtrack they also released this year) their best album in a good while. First of all, the instrumentals are way more fleshed out this time, with enticing melodies and a sense of purpose. The closing track, the very aptly titled "Tripping in the Graveyard", is a good example of this. It may not seem it at first but Goat’s magic starts to reveal itself after you have taken a proper dose of the musical concoction they have brewed in tracks like this one. But where
Medicine really shines is in the tracks that include vocals, especially in the mesmerizing opener "Impermanence of Death", where the vocal parts are brief but masterfully executed in a style that reminisces early Ozzy Osbourne in his early Black Sabbath days, or in the hypnotizing, almost strangely melancholic "Vakna", which is basically built upon a single chord and a steady beat while the sorcerer’s voice appears in the middle unexpectedly, almost as a ghostly guide from beyond the veil. The real showstopper though, is "Join the Resistance", which unsurprisingly made its way out as a single with a very fitting video, and it's probably one of the best songs Goat has ever recorded, an infusion of heavy fuzz and stoner doom that features a chorus that is impossible to get rid of.
In regards to the rest of the songs, they all bring something to the table, but its effects may vary depending on what you expect from the Korpilombolo tribe. "You'll Be Alright" is very calming, almost like a sedative, with lively percussion that contrasts the lethargic pace of the song, while also letting flute melodies intertwine with other lo-fi melodies that I'm not even able to explain where they come from, or even if they are real or just an aural hallucination. "TSOD" brings male vocals to the front, which is rare, and as also happens with "I Became the Unemployment Office", which also was released as a single, they are tracks that depart a bit from Goat's very recognizable sound almost to the point of sounding like something completely different.
For the average Goat acolyte, I would say that
Medicine successfully takes the band forward, with balanced experimentation and enough psychedelia to make you have an outer body experience while you do the dishes. It features a couple of strong songs, it blends the Beatles with Black Sabbath while still preserving their own sound and the production hits the spot, channeling as much vintage, broken amp worship, and muffled Anatolian funk drum beats as you would expect from the Goat of old. It will make you shake your hips, bob your head and even eyeroll in ecstasy depending on the level of intoxication of your vessel. Follow the flute, vibe with the wah wah, howl with the witches and Goat yourself. You deserve it.
