The metal world is filled to overflowing with diverse awesomeness. But lately we’ve been thinking that even with 15 gajillion subgenres, something was still missing, that what we really still needed was . . . . . . . some contemporary primal caveman death metal!
And then yesterday we discovered a Norwegian band called Goat the Head. And you’ll never guess.
They describe their music as “contemporary primal caveman death metal!” What a fucking amazing coincidence! And to think, some people say there’s no such thing as miracles.
Now, we can hear you saying, “Big deal, there’s lots of metal bands that wear skins.” And sure, you can find some pagan/folk-metal bands like Turisas that wear skins, but Goat the Head ain’t pagan or folk. They’re fucking prehistoric.
But prehistoric in a contemporary way. Really, they are. Kind of like cavemen who occasionally wear spacesuits. We’ll prove it to you. And it will be worth your time, because the music is raucous and weird and skull-crushing — in a primal caveman kind of way. But contemporary.
So, after the jump, we have two songs from the band’s forthcoming second album, one of which is available for free download. You listen to this and you’ll develop a taste for mastodon (and we don’t mean the band). Oh yeah, we’ve also got a Goat the Head video that’s a truly inspired piece of lunacy with one hell of an ending. (stay with us after the jump . . .)
The band’s MySpace page includes some further descriptive material (as if “contemporary primal caveman death metal” isn’t intriguing enough). Try this on for size:
Musically brutal, uncouth and coarse in appearance, the Trondheim-based band embodies nature at its worst.
Their penchant for keeping it “simple and organic” also reflects in their live shows that are peppered with nudity and primitive rituals.
Now you’re talkin’! We’ve been achin’ for a live death metal show that’s peppered with coarseness, nudity, and primitive rituals. Another prayer answered! Only thing is, Trondheim is so goddamned far away from Seattle.
Fortunately, we can at least hear the music, even if we can’t see the coarseness and nudity. And as it happens, Goat the Head will be releasing their second full-length album, Doppelgängers, on September 13 via Aftermath Music. Amazingly, the CD was mixed and mastered by the famed Tue Madsen (Behemoth, Kataklysm, The Haunted) at his Antfarm Studio in Århus, Denmark.
We had no idea he worked with cavemen.
And as it happens, you can hear a few of the songs fron Doppelgängers right fucking now. Like the title track, “Neolithic Rocket Science”. See, I told you — cavemen who sometimes wear space suits!
This song will kick your ass all the way back to the Neolithic. Check it out:
There’s another song from the album-to-be that you need to hear. It’s called “This Tube Is the Gospel”. We wish to hell we knew what that song title means. We do have some ideas, but they’re probably better left unspoken.
“This Tube Is the Gospel” is a different animal from “Neolithic Rocket Science”. It’s also got a heavy, hammering beat that just blasts you in the face. But sprinkled throughout it are unexpected vocal surprises — a strong-voiced female singer belting out a power-metal anthem, a death-metal clean-singing voice (if you can imagine that), and what comes perilously close to rap. We can’t think of anything else that sounds quite like it.
The female vocals are supplied by Kirsti Huke, who doesn’t appear to be a metal vocalist by trade. But she delivers the goods. And talk about beauty and the beasts — where’s a photo of Kirsti with the animals in Goat the Head?
So anyway, here’s that track for you to stream. We know you’re gonna have opinions about this one, so let’s have some comments please!
You can download your own free digital copy of “This Tube is the Gospel” at the band’s MySpace page (here). When you get there, right-click on the link and select “save as” from the menu.
Last, but certainly — certainly — not least, check out this video called “Darwinian Minions”. It’s not new, and it’s more of a teaser than a song, since there’s only a burst of music near the end. But it’s brilliant, in a cave-manish kind of demented brilliance, and it do have a cool finish to it.
So, to wrap this up, we’re guessing that somewhere in the back of your head, or maybe even in the front of it, you’re wondering about the band’s name. We haven’t taken the time to do actual research on where the name came from. It’s more fun to engage in rank speculation than search for actual facts.
And our hypothesis is that “Goat the Head” is just a poor translation from the Nordic tongue, and that what the name really means in English is something like “Severed Goathead” or “Satanic Cranium” or “Head the Goat” or “Goat-Ruptured Scrotum” or something suitably brutal like that.
Or we could be wrong, and the name really means what it says, and it capture’s a caveman’s exclamation upon seeing what the cavewoman has fixed for dinner. But in a contemporary way.
Cavemen in spacesuits. Hell yeah!
14 Responses to “GOAT THE HEAD”
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“So brutal, a caveman can do it!”
Some of you out there that aren’t from the U.S. won’t get that. Oh well.
Interesting find you’ve got here. Not bad, and “This Tube Is The Gospel” kicks ass. Kirsti Huke’s got a pretty damn good voice and that she lent it to the cavemen is awesome. I listened briefly to some of what’s on her own profile and that of the Kirsti Huke Quartet. Not really my thing, but she’s good at what she does. Of course, she’s not the only singer who steps outside of their comfort zone to deliver some kickass vocals, but she deserves praise nonetheless.
Gotta give it to GTH, they’re creative. Although I must be missing something here with “Darwinian Minions”. Caveman A finds a cube and brings it back to the trailer. Cube gives them electricity. They see boobs on the TV. Then the whole thing blows up and the cube floats there like an asshole who just kicked a baby stroller down a staircase. Fucking cube bastard.
I’m just guessing here, but I’d bet that they’d go well with certain folk metal bands on tour. The ones that are of the fun, drinking songs variety. Or maybe even GWAR. Or simply bands and audiences that can put up with the caveman gimmick shtick for more than a couple minutes. Alcohol optional.
By the way, I think you’ve been hitting the gore/grind stuff a bit too lately, what with your suggestions on what Goat The Head could be. Who says a band’s name has to make obvious sense?
Actually, I’d be disappointed if this band’s name made any kind of sense.
@”Alcohol optional”: No way. Alcohol mandatory.
The more I watch that video, the more hysterical shit I see in it. That busted down trailer in the middle of a swamp. The shit coming out the back window as the first caveman approaches it. The banging on the cube with a jawbone. The looks on their faces when the TV comes on. Beating the hell out of everything with their instruments when the trailer starts to come apart at the seams. And the cube floating there at the end “like an asshole who just kicked a baby stroller down a staircase.” The only word for it is “epic”.
Kirsti: Got to be an interesting story about how GTH persuaded her to contribute to “This Tube”. We will try to find out.
Oh, I’d have to listen some more to make out more of the lyrics, but one line caught my attention…
“I’m chewing gum”
I had to play that a couple times to make sure I was hearing right. I’m pretty sure that I am.
All I have to ask now is… what flavor? What brand?
Check out their first album Simian Supremacy by means of primal caveman death metal for these awesome lyrics:
Tempting her for the travel
Entangling her hair discreet
She’d only be filled with gravel
If dragged away by her feet
A body both lean and Luscious
A token for me to take
Trailing through thorns and bushes
As branches and bones break
It’s my demand
To mate in the sand
To tame desire by my heinous hand
Live for rage
Live for romance
Live for rage
Live for romance
The trip to the beach is gargantuan
But soon now she will receive
The greatest bang since the big one
But what did i just perceive?
Trembling between the tree trunks
I stare at my clenched fist
Nothing is left but hair-clumps
She has ceased to exist
Can’t understand
I should mate in the sand
Tame desire by my heinous hand
Live for rage
Live for romance
Live for rage
Live for romance
Changing the plan
Alone here I stand
And tame desire by my heinous hand
Greetings from Trondheim, Norway!
Excellent! I had a feeling GTH’s lyrics would be just as insanely inspired as everything else about them!
We need lyrics for the new songs too!
You’re gonna have to wait man, 13th of September is the release date. The record will be available fro here http://www.aftermath-music.com/
Waiting is painful. Immediate gratification is good. But we will wait, impatiently. Thanks for the link to Aftermath.
Holy fuck these guys are E.P.I.C. I love this stuff. I can’t wait to get home so I can watch the video. The lyrics that Havard posted are genius. Thanks for finding these guys Islander! A++++++ reviewer.
And not to derail the topic, I have been listening to Mafia (again) this morning. I can’t get enough. Each time I listen to it, I find something I miss and I love it more and more. This is my album of the year so for.
Glad you’re diggin GTH. As for Mafia — \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \\mmmm//!!!
AAWWWEEESOOMMMEEEE!!!
Now go throw that cube bastard in the microwave. Then do something mean to him.
FUCK YEAH!
The name is just a grammatical non-sequitur that occurred to a band member in a dream one night.
If only more bands would select their names this way, we would have more awesome band names. Most band names that have a “the” in the middle follow the template of “verb-the-noun”. Y’know, like “Haste the Day”. Or maybe “adverb/adjective-the-noun”, like “Beneath the Massacre”. But that’s all too timid. “Noun-the-noun” is much more interesting.