I just noticed on a fresh character start, that Alduin has like a metal skull for a head... with two horns coming out from around his cheeks. I have a few mods installed that could call for this ..

without doing any investigating... mod t hat adds.. Molag A Dovah -- ? I think that adds mol ag bal armor?

Yes, according to the comments to Armor of Molag Bal, it seems to edit Alduin:

Which seems to be a dragon added by the mod. So I'd remove that mod if you don't want that change.