GOAT 'Commune'

Swedish psychedelic rock troupe GOAT annihilate the usual expectations surrounding ‘the difficult second album’ with the bigger and bolder cosmos of 'Commune'. Ricocheting off the unanimous acclaim of their debut LP 'World Music' - to say nothing of their earned star reputation for putting on a killer live show - the Korpilombolo bunch double down on their fuzzed-out riffs and modern ritualist practices. Opener "Talk To God" begins with precisely this sense of holy ceremony, as singing bowls chime in reverent reception of whip-smart highlife licks and a thunderous drum-bass dialogue. "Goatchild" and "Goatslaves" sees paces and heart rates quicken in the tumult of percussive hypnotism and fuzz-wah punctuations with extra-dimensional force. As if an amplification of their sonic fervor wasn’t enough, 'Commune' finds GOAT widening their scope to greet the universe with open arms, contradiction and all - life and death, dark and light - as we’re told on "To Travel the Path Unknown": 'there is only one true meaning with life / and that is to be a positive force in the constant creation of evolution'. GOAT send their message of oneness home with blistering closer. "Gathering of Ancient Tribes", a riotous six-plus minute fireball that ends where 'Commune' began with the same singing bowl chimes, forming the run-time of the LP into a perfect circle.