Goat The Head

Doppelgängers

Written by: PP on 18/11/2010 01:18:23

Goat The Head. What the fuck does that even mean? Sometimes musicians come up with the weirdest names for their creations. Luckily the stupid name is no indication of the musical talent behind this Norwegian outfit. Their new album "Doppelgängers" comes with an intriguing classification; the band likes to call it "contemporary primal caveman death metal". It's an odd but surprisingly fitting title, as Goat The Head are another one of those bands playing the genre I affectionately call 'rumble metal'. Should you not have read some of my previous 'rumble metal' reviews, the basic idea is to have rollicking riffs that borrow equally much from thrash metal as they do from viking metal, and an extremely coarse and textured vocalist yelling on top. See Entombed for a prime example, or any Norwegian viking metal band to have ever existed (for starters).

And that's exactly what Goat The Head do for the entire duration of 10 tracks on this album. They roll, they rumble, they gallop, and the rollick their way through the record with thunderous riffs and exceptionally good drum patterns, creating a ferocious atmosphere where no casualties are spared and every man is left behind. Though the basic 'rumble' formula already makes Goat The Head sound awesome because of its high energy nature and the back-to-the-basics/viking era-approach to vocals by their vocalist, the little variation that sneaks its way into the formula is what makes the band stand out. It can be a screechy solo on "Salt", one of the highlights on the record, or the inclusion of fantastic guest vocals by a Norwegian jazz/indie/pop singer Kirsti Huke on "This Tube Is The Gospel", the best track on the record. Somehow her gothic-esque, more Germanic-sounding high pitch cleans create a superb contrast to the primal roars of Goat The Head mainman and the very, very, VERY quintessentially Scandinavian metal sound of the band overall.

The production is top notch as well, which you are to expect as well when you see who has been working behind the knobs: Tue Madsen. His studio has given "Doppelgangers" a majestic feel inspite of its ugly and macho premise, the songs seem like massive viking vessels causing fear in the eyes of the enemy, in this case "false metal" I would suppose. After all, one of the largest tags attached to their last.fm page is "true primal caveman death metal", heh. They'll be coming to Copenhagen in tow with Nile and Melesch come February next year, be sure not to miss them.

Download: This Tube Is The Gospel, Salt
For the fans of: Entombed, The Cavalera Conspiracy, primal roars and metal
Listen: Myspace

Release date 13.09.2010
Aftermath Music

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