CD included

180G vinyl

GOAT2CGR135
Coverdesign & Layout by Per Spjøtvold
On the 24th of March 2023 Goat the Head released Et Lokalsamfunn i Sorg” on Crispin Glover Records.

Over the course of twenty years, this Norwegian
metal fourpiece has cycled through their fair share
of peculiar concepts, outlandish appearances and
musical orientations. Death metal cavemen.
Thrashtronauts. Heavy metal physicists extreme.
On their fourth full length album, however, their
thematic approach is considerably closer to home
and to heart than ever before. Even so, this might
be Goat the Head’s most eccentric endeavor yet.
Firstly, all lyrics are in Norwegian. More specifically
trøndersk. A dialect native to Trøndelag, the central
part of Norway from where the band originally
hails. Secondly the music is as experimental as it is
haunting. Predominantly rich with almost every
color off the metal palette, but darkened with
unexpected timbres, twists and turns. At times it is
cinematic. Though most often it is heavy, slow and
foreboding. Most often, it is doom.
It all began with two contradicting intentions. A
desire to make a sophisticated concept album,
while simultaneously wanting to return to the
band’s initial spontaneous, carefree and arbitrary
nature. As a result the record resembles both a
tangible fable and a feverish dream. We are
transported back to the early nineties, to the rural
parts of central Norway. A young person is
searching for identity and purpose in a cautious
and caustic community when tragedy unexpectedly
strikes.
Hence the title: “A local community in grief.”
The journey begins well before the needle hits the
groove.
In a murmur of starlings we descend upon a small
town in the periphery of Trøndelag. Something is
brooding here. Something is building. Conflicts
culminate as we quarrel our way inwards, towards
the center. By the time we reach the core and turn
the record over, tragedy has come to pass. The
community must suffer through the stages of
collective grief. Will normality return in the end?
Was this place ever normal?
Goat the Head has always been a typical live outfit.
Not only on the stage, but also during the writing
and recording process. This time the approach was
totally different. Like a game of exquisite corpse
the album was made in an individualistic and
scattered fashion. Each member was to design
their given bodypart all by themself, not necessarily
knowing much about how the neighboring limb
would appear.
The process was adventurous, unpredictable and
bewildering. At times bizarre. How hazardous is it
to put a Kenneth Kapstad on fire in an old
gunpowder plant to record explosive doom metal
drums? Lethal, that’s how. When riffmeister and
main composer Ketil L. Sæther were to record his
parts he went straight to the studio of the Wizard of
Strings: Geir Sundstøl. The illustrious multi-
instrumentalist even joined in on the recording,
adding heaps of cinematic character to the album.
In the meantime Per Spjøtvold was plunging deep
into the Hammond organ hole. Penning lyrics.
Stacking chunky layers of vocals and growls on top
of each other. Constantly running out of time.
Trond Frønes delivered clever, harmonious and
snarly bass lines, completing the topsy-turvy
anatomy of the album. It was time for producer
Bård Ingebrigtsen to mix it. To sew the various
appendages properly together and get the body
animated. Ultimately, Brad Boatright mastered the
works. The band was finally able to encounter that
hulking mass of a body in broad daylight.
It had indeed turned out quite exquisite.

1.Svart Sol Psykopomp – 4:25
2.Kjiving (Tå Karro) – 4:07
3.Kustus – 3:25
4.Spark og Speinning – 3:55
5. Sluk – 2:20
6. Tornado og Oljesøl – 3:57
7. Innrøkt Åkle – 5:16
8. Faansmakt – 3:50
9. Einn en Hoinn – 3:42
10. Auåpnar – 4:29
11. Aksept (Postludium og Utgang) – 0:41
12. Varra Vanle – 3:44