Goat the Head

Goat the Head is a Norwegian metal band started in 2002 by vocalist/organist Per Spjøtvold (The Apparatus, Atrox, Hoist!) and guitarist Ketil L. Sæther (The Apparatus, Lumsk, Corroder). Present day lineup is completed with drummer Kenneth Kapstad (Spidergawd, Motorpsycho, Thorns) and bassist Trond Frønes (Red Kite, Cadillac, Sunswitch).

FIRST AGE – CAVEMAN DAYS

Goat the Head burst onto the metal music scene in a flurry of fur-hair and filth with the crude Neander Tales EP (Left Horn Records, 2006). Here they introduced the public to their own particular take on the Contemporary Primal Caveman Death Metal genre. The addition of bizarre and entrancing live shows created a significant underground notoriety and foundation was laid for a proper debut album the following year.

On Simian Supremacy (Tabu Recordings, 2007) the band ramped up their troglodyte game considerably. Popularity grew beyond Norwegian borders, and the band had amassed a cult following. The strange and cinematic music video for the sixteen second song Darwinian Minions did by no means hinder that. Live appearances grew in quantity, energy and sheer absurdity. After witnessing Goat the Head live in a London boxing ring, HIM’s Ville Valo compared the spectacle to “watching the Animal Planet with a chainsaw gaffa-taped to your head”.

SECOND AGE – SPACE THRASH

Follow up album Doppelgängers (Aftermath Music, 2010) represented a great evolutionary leap for the heads. Smelly pelts were shrouded in fancy space threads, both visually and sonically. The album was mixed and mastered by Tue Madsen, giving it its loud, violent and mechanical quality. It also saw a more experimental side to the band, like on the death metal gospel crossover duet This Tube is the Gospel together with jazz singer Kirsti Huke.

The band quickly returned to an earthlier ambience with a thrash-tinged 7-inch, Wicked Mimicry (Left Horn Records 2011). However, this would signify the suspension of all endeavour for the group. Bones and brains had grown weary. The body was laid to rest.

THIRD AGE – CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY, URHEIMAT AND DOOM

2020 saw Goat the Head reemerge from the mire with rejuvenated vigour and fresh hit single Call of Ixodes. The album Strictly Physical (Crispin Glover Records 2021) followed shortly after: A groovy and organic metal amalgam whose tar-dripping characteristics was conceived in Oslo’s Amper Tone Studios in cahoots with producer Bård Ingebrigtsen.

Pandemic times would hold up Got the Head’s glorious return to the live stage. Instead of touring the band decided to do Live in Ler, a furious studio concert broadcasted online. Focus was then put into the band’s next album effort.
Crispin Glover Records is releasing Goat the Head’s fourth album, Et Lokalsamfunn i Sorg, on the 24th of February 2023.