★★★★☆
California’s Ty Segall is a one-man garage-punk cottage industry, knocking out 11 solo albums, countless projects with a variety of bands, and one tour after another since 2008. All of this has threatened to morph into an indecipherable if visceral mush of fuzzy riffs and snarling attitude, but on his latest album he has stretched out all over the place.
The wonderfully named Despoiler of Cadaver is a sleazy piece of drum machine-driven liquid funk, while a heavily distorted guitar rips through a surprising cover of Hot Chocolate’s Every 1’s a Winner. He tries his hand at sentimental balladry with Cry Cry Cry and My Lady’s on Fire, captures his psychedelic nightmares on When Mommy Kills You and even has a bash at Viennese ballroom music on The Last Waltz, on which he reassures his departed wife that he will join her in Heaven soon.
At times this feels like a stretch into novelty, and Segall really shines when he’s on the home ground of She’s protean metal stomp, but his clear love for rock’s arcane corners, coupled with a sheer unbridled energy bordering on mania, ensures that Freedom’s Goblin zips along merrily. (Drag City)