Well, I was sort of expecting to write this, especially when you’ve been following a band since day one and around the time that you came out of your past muck and into the future that your currently living and experiencing, both personally and professionally.
However, the article isn’t about me nor my life but, the band in which sits in my memory banks that has stuck with me, every day since that change in life and the death metal band Taking The Head Of Goliath has been just that.
I first remember a band who were in practice stages with Jake Martin (vocals), Matt Vangsgard (drums), Nathan Sherman (guitars) and then the eventual addition of guitarist Rob Blake, with Facebook live – and not so live – clips shared from the practice room. Soon thereafter, I heard directly that Luke Renno (Crimson Thorn) had joined the band as their bass player and as I mentioned how cool that was via my Facebook profile, that’s until a few publications caught wind of my status and covered the news, which even now still amuses me today.
Being signed to Rottweiler Records in 2017 and with a live EP Beyond Brutal Live (2017) that expressed their wares and showed the world what they were capable of, Taking The Head of Goliath were a group of men that were passionate in how they represented themselves as well as towards each other in fellowship. Then Matt decided to step down from the band in October 2017, and he was soon thereafter replaced with Crimson Thorn drum beast Steve Reishus.
Their debut self-titled EP hit in 2018, to the excitement of many fans of the death metal genre including myself, we were all looking forward to the release. With only a handful of shows under their belts, in the lead up to early 2020, the last tour of live shows for TTHOG was entitled The Hasten Revelation Tour and conducted by now Rottweiler Records owner Jairus Pascale with vocalist Jake Martin. The shows headlined Crimson Thorn, with supporting artists Broken Flesh, Crushing The Deceiver, Abated Mass Of Flesh, My Place Was Taken and others.
Then the so-called pandemic hit, which in all fairness, put a stop to most things musical with continual lockdowns. Then that is what I believe may have led to the demise of Taking The Head Of Goliath, which in reality was still technically a young band with members as active parents to young ones, and the band kept quiet for a seriously long time until it was announced in 2022 that Jake Martin had been chosen to become the lead growler for Broken Flesh in their supposed final ever live performance. It was shortly afterwards, moving forward, that Jake would officially become the vocalist of the band, which again put more doubts and questions into how long TTHOG would last.
Then the announcement was finally revealed recently that Taking The Head Of Goliath had finally decided to call it a day. Was I shocked? No. Was I disappointed? Somewhat yes, due to the excitement these gents had once, that had to fizzle out, like it did. I mean, I can’t be angry nor upset, as these brothers of mine, will continually be so and we will always have that constant reminder, to ALWAYS Take The Head of Your Goliath.