Posted in Whathaveyou on April 1st, 2026 by JJ Koczan
I got to see Memphis heavy blues rockers The Heavy Eyes at the end of January at Planet Desert Rock Weekend (review here), and accordingly I think their new single “Troublesome Priest” heralds a record that there’s a good chance you’ll want to hear. The first streaming track from their upcoming fifth LP, Focus, pairs a bluesy vocal with chorus stretches of hard-hitting fuzz, tightly crafted into a three-minute package likewise hooky and atmospheric. You probably won’t have to ask yourself how Kozmik ArtifactzandMagnetic Eye got behind it after you listen, is what I’m saying.
The PR wire has it like this:
Memphis heavy rockers THE HEAVY EYES to release new album “Focus” on June 12th; debut single “Troublesome Priest” available now!
Memphis, Tennessee’s heavy blues and rock powerhouse THE HEAVY EYES are set to return with their anticipated fifth studio album “Focus” in collaboration with Magnetic Eye Records and Kozmik Artifactz this June 12th, and present the debut single “Troublesome Priest” today!
Six years after their last offering, The Heavy Eyes return with their most electrifying work yet. Their forthcoming new album Focus is 11 tracks brimming with new energy, cementing the band’s stomp-inducing riff-rock and transcending into heavier sonic realms. Sprawling guitar solos caress gargantuan grooves while languid, soulful vocals preach the gospel of a band reborn — ready to lead heavy rock lovers into the promised land with what can already be described as an instant classic.
About the album, guitarist and vocalist Tripp Shumake comments: “This album is The Heavy Eyes taking everything that has inspired us in the musical landscape and not giving a damn if it fits our particular genre. We want to use those impressions to bend our sound into new and exciting ideas for the listener and us, while still remaining true to our Memphis rock and roll roots. To focus on the thrill of creating something that wasn’t there before.”
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 6th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Check out Down the Hill 2025 bringing in a few classic proggers. Gong, Focus? Seven That Spells are playing too. Being no slouches in the heavy prog department themselves, I bet those guys are gonna freak out to see Gong. I get it.
This is the full lineup for Down the Hill this year. The Belgian-based fest did two, and so everybody is included here to best of my knowledge. I don’t know about you, but I look at the poster, who’s gonna be there with bands like Monkey3, Skyjoggers with Sula Bassana sitting in on guitar, Travo, Neptunian Maximalism and The Bevis Frond alongside The Atomic Bitchwax and Pendejo and Godsleep and I think you get an immediate sense of vibe in and out of progressive and psychedelic and driving heavy rock and roll, a bit of sludge snuck in.
I don’t imagine I’ll be there to see it, but it looks good from here. I’ve been in Belgium once, just long enough to transfer trains and screw up ordering coffee. Perhaps redemption someday:
🔥 DOWN THE HILL – FINAL BAND WAVE UNLEASHED! 🔥
You thought it couldn’t get any crazier? You thought the first wave was intense? Buckle up, because we’re about to send seismic shockwaves through the valley!
THE FINAL WAVE OF BANDS IS HERE!
Modder – Crushing sludge that will swallow you whole! Astodan – Cinematic post-rock to lose yourself in. Atonia – A musical force defying borders and genres. Neptunian Maximalism – NNMM – Psychedelic doom-jazz from another dimension. Pendej0 – Horn-fueled stoner madness straight from the gutter. The Atomic Bitchwax – New Jersey’s high-octane rock ‘n’ roll power trio! Tangled Horns – Dirty, dark and dangerously addictive. RONKER – Belgium’s own speednoise wrecking crew! Sula Bassana & Skyjoggers – A cosmic trip like no other. Focus the band – Prog legends bringing timeless rock mastery. Hedvig Mollestad Trio – A jazz-rock firestorm you can’t escape. Gong – The psychedelic pioneers return to take you on a cosmic ride!
But wait, let’s not forget the first wave of killer acts that have already been announced!
Apex Ten – Hypnotic, space-infused krautrock madness. Capitan – Heavy-hitting rock that grabs you by the throat. Godsleep – Greek stoner grooves set to shake the earth. Hemelbestormer – Cosmic post-metal that bends time and space. Motorikofficial – Krautrock propulsion at its finest. TRAVO – Fuzzed-out psych sounds that hypnotize. Wheel of Smoke – Riff-driven journeys through sonic dimensions. Seven That Spells – The masters of high-energy psych explosions. monkey3 – Swiss instrumental rockers taking you to the stars. The Bevis Frond – Legendary psych-rock brilliance from the UK.
🔥 DOWN THE HILL 2025 is set to be the most explosive edition yet! 🔥
🎟 Tickets are moving FAST! Don’t miss your chance to witness this lineup LIVE! 🎟
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 14th, 2014 by JJ Koczan
It’s been hours, days even, since the last round of Roadburn 2015 lineup additions, so obviously we’re due. This time around, the venerable Netherlands-based fest adds two sets from volatile New Orleans sludge legends Eyehategod, proggers Focus, Brooklyn genre-twisters Tombs, their Relapse labelmates in Black Anvil and more in Death Hawks and Pekko Käppi and K:H:H:L, who are the kinds of acts who play Roadburn and then I hear them like two months later and really, really wish I’d gotten to see them. Happens every year. It’s part of the thing.
The Roadburn 2015 lineup, as you can see in the flyer above, is wildly diverse but masterfully concocted all the same, and tickets aren’t even on sale yet. The presale — during which they’ll sell out almost immediately, as they always do — starts on Thursday.
Info follows:
Nola’s Eyehategod To Inflict Double The Anguish And Pain On Roadburn 2015
Dutch prog rock legends Focus confirmed for Ivar Bjørnson’s and Einar “Kvitrafn” Selvik’s Houses of the Holistic at Roadburn Festival 2015
Tombs, Black Anvil, Death Hawks and Pekko Käppi & K:H:H:L have also been confirmed for Roadburn 2015.
We’re beyond excited to welcome seminal New Orleans, Louisana sluge-legends Eyehategod back to the 20th edition of Roadburn Festival at the 013 venue in Tilburg, The Netherlands, with two sets of their unique, Southern hardcore-blues-sludge-and-doom on Thursday, April 9 at the main stage, and in Het Patronaat, Friday, April 10.
With its hateful, hopeless, anguished vocals set against extra-slow Iommi-inspired riffing, Eyehategod are credited with founding sludge-core, one of the most vital new genres of metal to emerge from the 1990’s. Countless bands have followed their footsteps, and after more than 20 years of creating some of the most corrosive, vile music known to man, Eyehategod still hasn’t lost the piss and vinegar, propaganda, and despair that fueled them back in 1988.
Over the years, Eyehategod have had more than their fair share of hardship, and recently suffered the tragic loss of drummer and founding member, Joey LaCaze. The new, self titled release from Eyehategod, the follow up to 2000’s Confederacy Of Ruined Lives, sees LaCaze’s drum tracks appear posthumously on this classic of the genre.
The album personifies desperation and addiction in the various backwaters of forgotten America, punctuated by the N’awlins sound of rebellion and pollution resulting in triumph over adversity. Come experience transcendence through malevolence as Eyehategod deface Roadburn 2015.
We’re equally excited to announce that Dutch prog rock legends Focus have been confirmed for Houses of the Holistic, Ivar Bjørnson‘s (Enslaved) and Wardruna’s Einar “Kvitrafn” Selvik‘s curated Roadburn event on Friday, April 10 at the 013 venue in Tilburg, The Netherlands.
With their unique brand of progressive rock, Focus established themselves at the start of the 70s as the most successful and appreciated of all the Dutch pop-rock exports. Fronted by founding member Thijs Van Leer, and best known for their hits “Hocus Pocus”, “House of The King” and “Sylvia”, as well as critically acclaimed albums Moving Waves, Focus 3 and Hamburger Concerto, Focus regrouped with a fantastic new line up in the early 2000s, which resulted in several well received albums, like Focus 9 / New Skin and Focus X.
Focus today consists of Thijs van Leer on vocals, flute and keyboards, and famed Focus drummer Pierre van der Linden, who joined the group on their second album Moving Waves in 1972. Internationally renowned for his rhythmic skills, Pierre remains a defining factor in the Focus sound. Bassist Bobby Jacobs, who comes from an acclaimed Dutch musical family and guitarist Menno Gootjes, who participated in Focus at an earlier stage, complete the band’s current line-up.
“If you know anything about prog beyond “old Genesis, not the new stuff”, you know Focus – an extremely influential band for any band in the progressive tradition that came after them; whether its progressive Metal like we try to fool around with, or purer retro-prog (a funny combination of concepts, by the way)”, says Enslaved’s Ivar Bjørnson. “Focus embodies everything that is true “Prog” for me: the incorporation of the classical elements, the tongue-in-cheek playfulness across times, genres and geography – and of course extraordinary musicianship. These highly vital legends has also shown amazing form live these days, so having freakin’ FOCUS accepting our invitation for our curated day. To put it simple, straight-forward and un-proggy: a dream come through!!!”
Pekko Käppi & K:H:H:L and Death Hawks have also been confirmed for Ivar Bjørnson’s and Einar “Kvitrafn” Selvik’s Houses of the Holistic on Friday, April 10.
As huge admirers of Tombs blackened ferocity, we simply couldn’t resist bringing this primordial killing machine back to the 20th edition of Roadburn on Saturday, April 11.
Straight from the filthy sewers of New York City, Black Anvil will hail death at Roadburn 2015 on Saturday, April 11.
In related news: Tickets for the 20th edition of Roadburn Festival, set for April 9 – 12 at the 013 venue in Tilburg, The Netherlands, will go on sale on Thursday, October 16, 2014.
Set your alarm and get ready to score your tickets at 21:00 CET! (20:00 UK | 22:00 Finland, Greece | 3pm East coast | 12pm West coast).
For everyone in the Netherlands and Belgium: we are aware that your local ticket outlets will not be open when pre-sales start, which is why we are throwing another pre-sales party at the 013 venue in Tilburg (NL). From 19:00 CET – 20:30 CET you will be able to purchase a maximum of four paper tickets for Roadburn Festival 2015. Guaranteed!
In addition to making it easy to get tickets, the pre-sales party is going to be a blast! This year, we have invited The Machine and Radar Men From The Moon to provide the soundtrack. More infoHERE.
Curated by Ivar Bjørnson (Enslaved) and Wardruna‘s Einar “Kvitrafn” Selvik, Roadburn Festival 2015 (including Fields of the Nephilim, Skuggsjá, Enslaved, Wardruna, Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin performing Dawn of The Dead and Susperia in its entirety, Zombi, Sólstafir, White Hills, Bongipper, Floor, Eyehategod and The Heads as Artist In Residence among others) will run for four days from Thursday, April 9 to Sunday, April 12 at the 013 venue in Tilburg, The Netherlands.
