Goat by Goat

Goat Goat

76
ChoruScore
7 reviews
Oct 11, 2024
Release Date
Rocket Recordings
Label

Goat's Goat returns the band to their ritual-soaked, psychedelic funk with a vivid potency that critics largely applaud. Across seven professional reviews the record earned a 76.29/100 consensus score, and reviewers repeatedly point to the trance-ready propulsion of “Ouroboros”, the groove-stung urgency of “Dollar Bill” and the polyrhythmic opener “One More Death” as the album's defining moments.

Critics consistently celebrate the album's genre-blending instincts: Afrobeat and tribal percussion meet retro funk, psych-pop hooks and improvisational looseness to create a ceremonious, dancefloor spirituality. Reviews praise the seven-minute “Ouroboros” for its cinematic, cyclical tension and melodic anchor, while “Dollar Bill” is cited across outlets as an irresistible, funk-filth highlight. Several reviewers note the primal rhythms of “Goatbrain” and the off-kilter charm of “Frisco Beaver” and “Zombie” as evidence of Goat's renewed confidence and playful experimentation with world-rock textures.

While a minority of critics find moments of excess or drifting passages, the prevailing critical consensus frames Goat as a successful comeback that balances raw energy with tighter, more accessible arrangements. For readers asking whether Goat is good and which are the best songs on Goat, the professional reviews point you toward “Ouroboros”, “Dollar Bill” and “One More Death” as the essential entry points. The record closes with a resurrective flourish, positioning Goat's latest as both a continuation of their pagan aesthetic and a confident step forward in psychedelic, genre-blending rock.

Critics' Top Tracks

The standout songs that made critics take notice

1

Ouroboros

7 mentions

"The final track “Ouroboros” – a familiar motif of the band – is an out-and-out floor filler."
The Line of Best Fit
2

Dollar Bill

6 mentions

"The vocals... feel even more accessible here, “Dollar Bill” is almost a psyche bluesy offering"
The Line of Best Fit
3

One More Death

5 mentions

"From “One More Death” and “Goatbrain” it’s immediately apparent that the livelier, brighter tones"
The Line of Best Fit
The final track “Ouroboros” – a familiar motif of the band – is an out-and-out floor filler.
T
The Line of Best Fit
about "Ouroboros"
Read full review
7 mentions
92% sentiment

Track Ratings

How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.

View:
1

One More Death

5 mentions
100
06:11
2

Goatbrain

6 mentions
88
04:06
3

Fools Journey

5 mentions
37
03:47
4

Dollar Bill

6 mentions
100
05:46
5

Zombie

5 mentions
25
05:28
6

Frisco Beaver

4 mentions
73
05:41
7

All is One

5 mentions
42
03:05
8

Ouroboros

7 mentions
100
07:21

What Critics Are Saying

Deep insights from 8 critics who reviewed this album

Critic's Take

Goat revels in a raw, tribal psych that turns each song into a strange trip, and the best songs on Goat prove it. The reviewer's ear lands squarely on “Goatbrain” for its Afrobeat/reggae-tinged vibe and on the groovy, danceable “Zombie”. Yet it is the seven-minute closer “Ouroboros” that emerges as the standout, sonically dense but melodically anchored, balancing madness and harmony. Taken track-by-track, these best tracks reveal why Goat favors primal grooves over commercial polish.

Key Points

  • Ouroboros is best because it balances sonic density with a melodic groove that anchors the album.
  • The album’s core strengths are its tribal rhythms, psychedelic textures, and genre-blending adventurousness.

Themes

psychedelia tribal rhythm genre-blending raw energy improvisational feel

Critic's Take

In a typically evocative register Matt Young finds the best songs on Goat to be those that turn the band’s ritualism into open invitation - “One More Death” and “Ouroboros” leap out as immediate crowd-pleasers, while “Dollar Bill” softens their weightier moods into psyche-bluesy accessibility. The review pulses with images of tribal percussion meeting a 90s Goa dancefloor, arguing that the best tracks on Goat trade heaviness for clarity and trance. He praises the album’s accessible vocals and sunlit mix, positioning these songs as the moments where Goat encircles the masses rather than a niche of curious bystanders.

Key Points

  • The best song is the final track “Ouroboros” because it is called an out-and-out floor filler that channels primal spirituality.
  • The album’s core strengths are its clear, spacious mix, accessible vocals, and successful fusion of tribal trance with danceable grooves.

Themes

ritual and ceremony transcendence hypnosis and trance genre fusion dancefloor spirituality
Sputnikmusic logo

Sputnikmusic

Unknown
Oct 16, 2024
78

Critic's Take

In this review I find Goat’s Goat to be a seductively shallow psych-groove triumph, with the funk-filth of “Dollar Bill” and the psych-pop push toward “Ouroboros” standing out. The record wears its world-music roadtrip bona fides proudly, tightening grooves and delivering pungent guitar-work that makes tracks like “Dollar Bill” utterly irresistible. Even when “Fools Journey” feels sparse or “Zombie” drifts toward tediousness, the album’s immediate vitality and silly exuberance keep it compelling. So for listeners searching for the best tracks on Goat, start with “Dollar Bill” and follow through to “Ouroboros” for the full groove payoff.

Key Points

  • Dollar Bill is best because its "funk-filth grooviness" overwhelms the reviewer with immediacy and pleasure.
  • The album's core strengths are tightened grooves, pungent guitar work, and immediate, silly exuberance.

Themes

psychedelia revival groove and funk world music influences exuberant performance
Louder Than War logo

Louder Than War

Unknown
Oct 12, 2024
78

Critic's Take

In his vivid, slightly baroque register MK Bennett argues that Goat's best songs are where their psychedelic, pagan funk coalesces into real hooks - notably “Ouroboros” and “Dollar Bill”, which the reviewer repeatedly flags as a stand-out album track and a "cyclic thing of joy" respectively. He writes with cinematic comparison and affectionate specificity, likening the band to Jodorowsky and the Grateful Dead while praising the tighter, poppier focus that lets tracks like “Zombie” and “Frisco Beaver” sing with Nigerian funk and wah-wah swagger. The result is an album that is stargazed yet earthy, concise yet expansive, and compels you to "press play again."

Key Points

  • Ouroboros is the best track for its singular status as a recent single and thematic centerpiece.
  • The album's core strengths are its fusion of psychedelic, funk and Afrobeat textures with tighter, hook-forward songwriting.

Themes

psychedelic funk pagan aesthetic cinematic Afrobeat

Critic's Take

Goat return to their pagan world-rock on Goat, and the best songs - notably “One More Death” and “Ouroboros” - crystallise that revival. The opener “One More Death” hits with polyrhythmic Led Zeppelin riffs and a brilliantly unhinged buzz-saw freakout, while the seven-minute “Ouroboros” is a wah-wah rave of ghostly horns and a wailing entreaty to find God inside yourself. Tracks such as “Dollar Bill” and “Frisco Beaver” revitalise retro funk and bongo-funk with fractured psych guitar and one-finger synth, keeping the album vital. Overall, the record feels like a deliberate circular return to roots, alive with ritualistic atmosphere and genre-hopping invention.

Key Points

  • The best song is the title track “Ouroboros” for its seven-minute wah-wah rave that embodies the album's cyclical theme.
  • The album's core strengths are its ritualistic atmosphere, genre-spanning pastiche, and revitalised retro funk and psychedelia.

Themes

cyclical death and rebirth psychedelia and retro funk world-rock and pagan ritual experimentation with genres

Critic's Take

In this ecstatic appraisal Robin Murray finds the best songs on Goat wearing their rituals proudly: the brooding “One More Death” lingers in shadow, the other-worldly funk of “Goatbrain” is a highlight, and “Fools Journey” transports you to an unearthly pastoral realm. Murray writes with breathless relish about the primordial frenzy of “Dollar Bill” and the baggy, tribal sweep of “Ouroboros”, arguing these tracks crystallize why Goat remain vital. The narrative is vivid, exuberant and insistently impressed, answering the question of the best tracks on Goat by pointing to these standout moments as the album's core triumphs.

Key Points

  • The best song(s) stand out for atmosphere and ritualistic propulsion, notably “Goatbrain” and “One More Death”.
  • The album's core strengths are its frenzied rhythms, bullish guitars and vivid psychedelic imagery.

Themes

psychedelia primal rhythms ritualistic imagery comeback/renewal

Critic's Take

I kept thinking of Goat as a band perfected by ritual and groove on Goat, where the best songs - “Dollar Bill” and “Ouroboros” - seize you with psychedelic funk and ecstatic, hypnotic payoff. The album’s opener “One More Death” kicks things off with fuzz-drenched guitar and organ tones that nod to The Doors, while “Goatbrain” and “Zombie” show off the band’s voodoo-tinged, African-inflected rhythms. Overall, the record feels like another upward step for Goat, equal parts monstrous motif and brilliant groove.

Key Points

  • Dollar Bill is best for its thrilling psychedelic funk, impassioned vocals and an ending the reviewer calls demonic and unforgettable.
  • The album’s core strengths are ritualistic, funk-driven psychedelia, strong grooves informed by African rhythms, and a sense of cyclical rebirth.

Themes

psychedelic funk voodoo and ritualism African rhythmic influence death and rebirth