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! 🎟

www.downthehill.be/tickets

https://www.facebook.com/DownTheHillFestival/
https://www.instagram.com/downthehillfestival/
http://www.downthehill.be/

Gong, Unending Ascending (2023)

No sense pretending to be Johnny Groundfloor on Modder here, but if you, like me, didn’t hear the Belgian five-piece’s 21-minute debut single, “Mudslinger,” when they released it late last year, it’s well worth the atmosludge immersion. By the time their self-titled debut shows up, they may turn out to be more in line with Europe’s rampant post-metal movement — from Amenra to the Pelagic Records roster, etc. — but “Mudslinger” is rawer, more consistent in its volume and its course feels less defined by artsy hyper-consciousness than sheer grooving drive. Maybe that’s wishful thinking on my part. I don’t know. There’s demolition happening in my house as I type this, so everything kind of sounds destructive.

But! When Lay Bare Recordings and Consouling Sounds both get together around a thing, that’s a thing I want to know more about, so this is my way of leaving a note to myself to find out more about Modder‘s Modder when the time comes. In the interim, should you happen to be in their part of the world, they’ll be making a hometown appearance at Desertfest in Ghent at the end of the month. Good gig for a band who just have a single out. Or, you know, anyone.

And no, my neck probably isn’t “ready for the riff onslaught.” Just being honest. I headbanged like twice yesterday morning and I can still feel it. Perils of age.

From the band’s sociables:

Modder – Modder

Our first full length LP ‘Modder’ will be available at the end of this year, as promised.

The wonderful Lay Bare Recordings invited us into their family and grooving roster of like minded artists.

Expanding the family even more, the amazing Consouling Sounds will be co-releasing our LP as well, home of many inspiring bands.

Suffice to say, we are hyped to be releasing our hard work on two astonishing labels we respect and are proud to call our new home. Are your necks ready for the riff onslaught that is about to come?

http://facebook.com/modder666
https://modder.bandcamp.com
https://laybarerecordings.com/
https://www.facebook.com/laybarerecordings/
https://www.instagram.com/laybarerecordings/
http://consouling.be
http://www.facebook.com/ConsoulingSounds
http://twitter.com/consouling
http://www.instagram.com/consouling

Modder, “Mudslinger”

Big update from Desertfest Belgium 2021. After recently unveiling some cancelations and following up with a list of the precautionary measures being taken to deal with happening during a pandemic, the Antwerp and Ghent-based editions of the festival both receive a round of lineup additions. Greece’s 1000mods will take part in both, while the likes of Electric Moon and Stoned Jesus join Ghent, and Monkey3 and Slift and Temple Fang confirmed for Antwerp. I’m not sure ultimately how many acts the two Desertfest Belgiums — Belgii? — will share between them, but with Ghent happening on one day and Antwerp happening across three, there’s bound to be significant variation. Looks like that’s happening here already, and take note of Ohio’s Frayle making the trip for Ghent. Hope they can get out of the US to make it in time, or that the EU hasn’t banned our infectious asses by then.

It’s nice to think about these things every day, isn’t it? Doesn’t it just feel like the way humanity was meant to live? Not at all a drain on one’s entire being.

I digress. Constantly. Here’s info from the PR wire:

DFBE21: A MASSIVE 20 NEW NAMES FOR ANTWERP & GHENT!

1000MODS playing both events, Monkey3, Stoned Jesus & much much more

Strap in folks, because this is going to be a ride.. after all the hassle with COVID and cancels, let’s have some great to even greater news about both festivals shall we? We have a whole slew of names for you and if we may say so ourselves: we’re positively STOKED about all of these. Scene favourites, new and upcoming acts, local gems to discover.. we have it all. Here we go!

First of all: the Greek stoner sensation 1000MODS will be playing Antwerp as well as Ghent. We love ‘em, you love ‘em, their mother loves ‘em – everybody loves ‘em, okay! They need no further introduction so let’s move on to another favourite that will grace the stage in Ghent: STONED JESUS is coming to town, and you all know what that means. Killer grooves and a mighty good time. We’re also extremely excited to have DELVING on board which is the new project of ELDER frontman Nick DiSalvo. This will be one of their first shows after the album dropped in June, and we can already tell you this one’s gonna be something special.

ALL NEW NAMES FOR DF GHENT: 1000MODS, STONED JESUS, DELVING, LILI REFRAIN, ELECTRIC MOON, NERO DI MARTE, HEMELBESTORMER, FRAYLE, IGNATZ, MODDER

Moving on to Antwerp, we’re looking forward to revisit the audiovisual extravaganza of MONKEY3 who completely killed it at our last edition. For more spaced-out craziness, YURI GAGARIN is always a safe choice so let’s go with that. With VILLAGERS OF IOANNINA CITY we have the second Greek band on the bill, with a more leftfield sound but no less essential.

ALL NEW NAMES FOR DF ANTWERP: MONKEY3, VILLAGERS OF IOANNINA CITY, 1000MODS, YURI GAGARIN, SLIFT, ALKERDEEL, ATOMIC VULTURE, TEMPLE FANG, DAILY THOMPSON, BISMUT, FAKE INDIANS.

We still have a few names up our sleeve, but we hope this whopper list goes a long way to get you stoked. Please remember that we have installed a COVID info page on our websites, where you can check what to do in order to come fully prepared to the festival. We’re updating it as we go, and we try to help out our non-EU visitors as well. Make sure to read it to avoid disappointments at the entrance.

http://www.desertfest.be/
https://www.facebook.com/desertfestbelgium/
https://www.instagram.com/desertfest_belgium/

1000mods, “Pearl” official video