🤘🔥 THIRTY YEARS IN THE MAKING, BUTT! Dutch progressive rock veterans EGDON HEATH are making a remarkable comeback with their first new studio album under the band’s original name since 1996! Their highly anticipated fifth studio album, SPRING THE PAST ALIVE, arrives on Friday 11 December 2026 through FREIA MUSIC, marking the return of a group whose musical history stretches back more than four decades.
And this isn’t simply a nostalgia trip! Featuring ten tracks and approximately 67 minutes of progressive rock, Spring The Past Alive reunites founding musicians JAAP MULDER and ALDO ADEMA with drummer ERIK KONING, while original bassist MARCEL COPINI contributes to five recordings. The album combines previously unreleased musical ideas with brand-new compositions, celebrating the band’s history while embracing a fresh creative beginning.
To mark the announcement, EGDON HEATH have also unveiled the official music video for ‘THE MYSTIC MONKEY’, a nearly eight-minute composition from the forthcoming record. With the band already working on additional music, this long-awaited return could be the beginning of an exciting new chapter for one of the Netherlands’ lesser-known progressive rock treasures!
🎸 Egdon Heath Are Back, And It’s Been A Long Time Coming!
Well then, Riff Report crew!
Every now and again, an album announcement comes along that makes you stop and check the calendar.
Because thirty years is a very long time in rock music.
In three decades, bands form.
Albums are released.
Musical styles come and go.
Entire generations discover their favourite artists.
And some groups quietly disappear into the history books.
But occasionally, a band decides there’s still unfinished business.
And that’s exactly what’s happening with EGDON HEATH.
The Dutch progressive rock veterans are preparing to release Spring The Past Alive, their first studio album under the Egdon Heath name since Nebula arrived in 1996.
That’s right.
1996!
Back when CD collections were taking over people’s bedrooms, music magazines were essential reading and discovering a rare progressive rock album often meant spending hours searching through specialist record shops.
Now, thirty years later, Egdon Heath are preparing to introduce new music to the world.
But here’s the interesting part.
They never really stopped making music.
The musicians continued working together in different combinations.
They explored other projects.
Recorded albums under different names.
And maintained creative connections even as their original band appeared to have reached its conclusion.
Now those musical relationships have brought them back together.
And the result is an album that celebrates both their history and their future.
Thirty years between studio albums? That’s a proper progressive rock intermission, mun!
💿 Spring The Past Alive – New Album Arrives 11 December 2026!
The band’s new record will be released through FREIA Music on Friday 11 December 2026.
The album features ten compositions, including several extended pieces that embrace the ambitious songwriting associated with progressive rock.
And there’s plenty for fans to explore.
The title track runs for almost eight minutes.
The Mystic Monkey is another lengthy composition.
And Warning The Crowd 2 (Colander Man) stretches beyond eleven minutes.
That’s the sort of thing that’ll make dedicated prog enthusiasts very happy indeed!
📀 Album Details
Detail Information Artist Egdon Heath Album Spring The Past Alive Release date Friday 11 December 2026 Label FREIA Music Country The Netherlands Genre Progressive Rock Studio album Fifth under the Egdon Heath name Tracks 10 Advertised running time 66 minutes, 53 seconds Formats CD and digital Recording and mixing Aldo Adema Mastering Han Uil Artwork Aldo Adema Photography Sander Weisbeek
The new album is available to pre-order through Dutch Music Works.
And for fans who’ve followed the band since their earliest recordings, it represents a particularly significant moment.
Because this isn’t simply another album.
It’s the return of a musical identity that hasn’t released new studio material under its original name for three decades.
🎬 The Mystic Monkey – Watch Egdon Heath’s New Music Video!
To accompany the announcement, the band have unveiled a video for The Mystic Monkey.
The track appears as the seventh song on the forthcoming album.
And with a running time of 7 minutes and 53 seconds, it provides a substantial introduction to the project.
For progressive rock fans, extended compositions are often an important part of the appeal.
They allow musicians to explore arrangements beyond the usual verse-chorus format.
Melodies can develop gradually.
Instrumental passages have room to breathe.
And songs can move through contrasting musical sections without being restricted to conventional radio lengths.
The Mystic Monkey is one of the album’s longer pieces, making it a fitting choice to introduce Egdon Heath’s return.
🎥 Watch The Official Music Video
EGDON HEATH – THE MYSTIC MONKEY
The video is available through the band’s official YouTube presence.
And for anyone unfamiliar with Egdon Heath, it’s a useful starting point before the full album arrives.
Watch the video, explore the music and decide whether these Dutch prog veterans deserve a place in your collection!
🎹 The Story Of Egdon Heath – Back To The Beginning!
To understand why this release matters, we need to travel back to the early 1980s.
Egdon Heath emerged from Leeuwarden in the Netherlands, developing their music during a period when progressive and symphonic rock were experiencing renewed interest.
The band’s early history began in 1981.
And over the following years, the musicians developed a sound associated with melodic progressive rock, keyboards, guitar-driven arrangements and ambitious songwriting.
Their first studio album arrived in 1987.
And that began a recording career that would eventually produce four albums before the end of the 1990s.
🎸 In The City – The Debut Album (1987)
In The City introduced Egdon Heath’s musical identity.
The album featured compositions including Pyromania, Echoes Of Celandine, Run For Life and the title track.
It established the band within the Dutch progressive rock community.
And its release represented an important step for musicians dedicated to a genre that often existed outside mainstream commercial trends.
🎹 The Killing Silence (1991)
Four years later, Egdon Heath returned with The Killing Silence.
The second album continued their development within symphonic and progressive rock.
Its release helped strengthen the band’s reputation among specialist listeners.
And it became another chapter in their growing catalogue.
🎸 Him, The Snake And I (1993)
Their third studio album, Him, The Snake And I, followed in 1993.
The record appeared through SI Music, a label associated with progressive rock.
The album featured eight compositions and continued the band’s interest in expansive arrangements.
By this stage, Egdon Heath had established themselves as a recognised name within the European progressive rock underground.
🌌 Nebula (1996)
Then came Nebula in 1996.
The band’s fourth studio album would eventually become their final studio release under the Egdon Heath name for thirty years.
The record contained eight tracks and continued their symphonic rock direction.
But despite their musical achievements, the band’s original chapter was approaching its conclusion.
By the end of the decade, several members had decided to move on.
And Egdon Heath appeared to have reached the end of the road.
Or so everybody thought!
🖤 The End Of Egdon Heath? Not Quite!
By the end of 1999, the band’s original line-up had effectively reached its conclusion.
Drummer Valère Wittevrongel, keyboard player Wolf Rappard and vocalist Maurits Kalsbeek decided to step away.
After years of recording and performing, the musicians were ready to pursue different directions.
But three remaining members still wanted to create music.
Jaap Mulder.
Aldo Adema.
Marcel Copini.
Rather than abandoning their musical partnership, they recruited drummer Erik Koning.
And together, they began another chapter.
The new project would become known as:
SEVEN DAY HUNT.
It was a different name.
But one with a considerable connection to Egdon Heath’s musical history.
🎸 Seven Day Hunt – The Band That Kept The Music Alive!
Following Egdon Heath’s original split, the remaining musicians continued creating new material.
With Erik Koning behind the drum kit, they developed compositions for a new project.
Vocalist Han Uil later became involved.
And the group adopted the name Seven Day Hunt.
Their album File This Dream arrived in 2007.
The release demonstrated that the musicians’ creative interests hadn’t disappeared.
They were still experimenting.
Still composing.
And still developing their musical ideas.
For progressive rock enthusiasts, Seven Day Hunt represented an interesting continuation of the earlier band.
But even this new chapter wouldn’t remain unchanged forever.
Eventually, the musicians began moving in different directions.
Aldo Adema and Han Uil went on to explore another project.
Meanwhile, Jaap Mulder, Erik Koning and Marcel Copini continued developing material until around 2014.
Then, things became quiet.
But the creative history remained.
And as it turns out, that history would become extremely important several years later.
🤘 TumbleTown – Another Chapter In The Musical Family Tree!
Following their involvement with Seven Day Hunt, Aldo Adema and Han Uil continued working together.
Their next major project was TumbleTown.
The group released three albums, allowing the musicians to develop a new identity while retaining connections to their progressive rock background.
And this is one of the most interesting aspects of the Egdon Heath story.
Because although the original band had stopped releasing albums, the people involved continued creating music.
They weren’t necessarily attempting to revive the past.
They were simply following different musical interests.
But those creative relationships never completely disappeared.
And eventually, two important figures would find themselves working together again.
🔥 2023 – The Reunion That Changed Everything!
Fast-forward to 2023.
And something rather special happened.
Jaap Mulder and Aldo Adema reconnected.
After years of working through different projects and musical combinations, the two musicians began collaborating again.
Initially, the sessions involved previously unreleased material.
Ideas that had never found their way onto finished recordings.
Compositions that were still waiting for the right opportunity.
But new music was also entering the picture.
Mulder began contributing fresh compositions.
And what started as a renewed creative partnership gradually developed into something much more significant.
The possibility of bringing back Egdon Heath.
🥁 Erik Koning Returns In 2025
The next important development came in early 2025.
Drummer Erik Koning joined Mulder and Adema.
His return brought another familiar musician into the project.
And the recording sessions continued developing.
🎸 Marcel Copini Adds Bass
Original bassist Marcel Copini also became involved.
He contributes bass to five tracks on the forthcoming album.
That means the new release brings together musicians associated with both Egdon Heath’s original history and its Seven Day Hunt continuation.
And that’s what makes the project so interesting.
Rather than assembling a completely unfamiliar line-up, the record reconnects musicians with decades of shared history.
Old friends. New ideas. And unfinished musical business!
❤️ Erik Koning Explains Why The Reunion Means So Much
One of the most moving parts of this announcement comes from drummer Erik Koning.
Because for him, the album represents something far more personal than simply returning to a familiar band name.
It’s about friendship.
Creative freedom.
And rediscovering the excitement that originally brought the musicians together.
Koning explains that growing older has changed the way the band approaches music.
There’s less pressure.
A greater understanding of what matters.
And more appreciation for the experience of making music with people who’ve shared so much history.
He hopes listeners will recognise that renewed enthusiasm within the recordings.
And perhaps most importantly, he sees the album as a fresh beginning.
Not simply a retrospective exercise.
Not an attempt to recreate the 1990s.
But a new opportunity to enjoy making music together.
🎹 A Different Perspective After Thirty Years
There’s something genuinely appealing about that attitude.
When musicians are younger, they often feel enormous pressure.
To achieve commercial success.
To attract record label attention.
To secure bigger concerts.
And to prove themselves.
But after decades of experience, priorities can change.
Sometimes the most important thing becomes the music itself.
The opportunity to explore ideas.
To work with friends.
And to create something meaningful without worrying about every commercial expectation.
For Egdon Heath, that appears to be an important part of the new album.
And here’s the particularly exciting news: the band are already working on more music!
So Spring The Past Alive might be the beginning of another creative period rather than a one-off reunion.
💿 Egdon Heath – Spring The Past Alive Full Tracklist
Here’s the complete ten-track running order. No. Track Duration 1 Beyond The Oceans Somewhere 6:51 2 Spring The Past Alive 7:53 3 Off The Beaten Track 7:07 4 Rituals Of Closure For The Sadistic Superego 6:45 5 Hunga Tonga 3:00 6 A Story To Tell 6:05 7 The Mystic Monkey 7:53 8 Warning The Crowd 1 (This Is Where It’s Going) 2:30 9 Warning The Crowd 2 (Colander Man) 11:03 10 Old Winds Die Down 7:41
Advertised total running time: 66 minutes and 53 seconds.
And there’s certainly plenty to investigate.
With several tracks approaching eight minutes and one running beyond eleven, the album gives its musicians considerable space to explore their compositions.
For listeners who enjoy substantial progressive rock albums, that’s part of the attraction.
🎶 Ten Tracks And Almost 67 Minutes Of Progressive Rock!
The tracklist offers an interesting look at the scope of the album.
And while a full listening assessment will have to wait until the record arrives, there are several details worth exploring.
🌊 Beyond The Oceans Somewhere
The album opens with a composition lasting almost seven minutes.
Its title suggests a sense of distance and discovery, making it an intriguing opening to the band’s long-awaited return.
🎹 Spring The Past Alive
The title track runs for nearly eight minutes.
And considering the record’s concept, it’s especially significant.
The album is about reconnecting with the past while developing something new.
That makes the title track a natural focal point for the project.
🎸 Off The Beaten Track
Another extended composition, this time running just over seven minutes.
The title seems particularly appropriate for a group whose musical journey has taken so many unexpected turns.
🖤 Rituals Of Closure For The Sadistic Superego
Now there’s a title!
At almost seven minutes, it’s one of the more intriguingly named compositions on the album.
And it certainly sounds like something that belongs in the progressive rock world.
Where song titles are occasionally long enough to require their own page in the CD booklet!
🌋 Hunga Tonga
At three minutes, Hunga Tonga is the shortest standalone track before the two-part Warning The Crowd sequence.
Its title recalls the Hunga Tonga volcanic system in the South Pacific, although the band haven’t provided an explanation of the song’s lyrical or musical subject.
📖 A Story To Tell
Another six-minute composition.
And given the history surrounding the band’s return, the title feels particularly appropriate.
Egdon Heath certainly have a story worth telling.
🐒 The Mystic Monkey
The newly unveiled music video introduces this nearly eight-minute piece.
It’s the first major visual preview of the forthcoming album.
⚠️ Warning The Crowd – Parts One And Two
Here’s something particularly appealing for longtime progressive rock fans.
A two-part composition.
Part One runs for 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
Part Two, titled Colander Man, stretches to 11 minutes and 3 seconds.
Combined, the two sections account for more than thirteen minutes of music.
And that provides plenty of room for ambitious songwriting.
🍃 Old Winds Die Down
The album concludes with a seven-minute-plus composition.
And considering the record’s themes of history, renewal and rediscovery, the title provides a fitting ending to the journey.
Exactly how these songs develop musically will become clear when the record is released.
But from the announced running times alone, this is clearly an album designed for listeners who enjoy taking their time with music.
No rushing through the songs here, butt. This is proper sit-down-with-the-headphones progressive rock!
🎤 Meet Egdon Heath – The 2026 Line-Up
The reunited band features four musicians.
🎹 Jaap Mulder – Piano, Synthesisers And Vocals
Jaap is central to the band’s songwriting and creative direction.
He provides piano, synthesisers, lead vocals and backing vocals.
He’s also responsible for composing the album’s music, with lyrics credited to himself and Erik Koning.
His return to lead vocal duties marks another connection with Egdon Heath’s earliest recordings.
🎸 Aldo Adema – Guitar And Bass
Aldo contributes guitar and bass.
But his involvement extends beyond performing.
He co-produced and arranged the album with Mulder, handled recording and mixing, and created the artwork.
That’s a substantial creative contribution.
And it gives him an important role in shaping the record’s overall presentation.
🥁 Erik Koning – Drums And Backing Vocals
Erik provides drums and backing vocals.
He’s also credited as a lyricist alongside Mulder.
His involvement connects the new album with the Seven Day Hunt period.
And his comments about the reunion reveal just how meaningful the project has become for the musicians.
🎸 Marcel Copini – Bass
Marcel returns to contribute bass to five tracks.
As a musician connected with the earlier Egdon Heath and Seven Day Hunt line-ups, his involvement provides another important link with the band’s history.
Together, these musicians form the core of the new Egdon Heath chapter.
🎛️ The Making Of Spring The Past Alive
The new album has been created through a largely collaborative production process.
🎚️ Official Album Credits
Contribution Credit Music composed by Jaap Mulder Lyrics Jaap Mulder and Erik Koning Arrangements Jaap Mulder and Aldo Adema Production Jaap Mulder and Aldo Adema Recording Aldo Adema Mixing Aldo Adema Mastering Han Uil Album artwork Aldo Adema Photography Sander Weisbeek
One particularly interesting name is Han Uil.
The former Seven Day Hunt vocalist, who went on to work with Aldo Adema in TumbleTown, returns to the wider musical story as the mastering engineer.
That’s another example of how interconnected these musicians’ careers have remained.
Even when the band names changed, the creative relationships continued.
And now those connections are helping bring Egdon Heath back into the spotlight.
🎸 Why Progressive Rock Fans Should Be Interested
There’s something distinctive about progressive rock.
It’s a genre that frequently rewards patience.
A willingness to explore.
And an appreciation for music that doesn’t necessarily follow conventional structures.
Extended compositions.
Atmospheric keyboards.
Elaborate arrangements.
Unusual rhythmic ideas.
And songwriting that allows musical themes to develop over time.
These are characteristics that have attracted dedicated audiences for decades.
Bands such as GENESIS, YES, MARILLION, IQ, PENDRAGON and CAMEL helped establish different traditions within progressive and symphonic rock.
And throughout Europe, smaller bands developed their own interpretations of those styles.
Egdon Heath were part of that wider musical landscape.
They never achieved the international commercial fame of some of the genre’s biggest names.
But their recordings found an audience among progressive rock enthusiasts.
And thirty years after Nebula, that audience now has the opportunity to discover something new.
There’s also an opportunity for younger listeners.
Because you don’t have to remember the band’s original releases to appreciate a comeback.
Sometimes discovering a long-running group through a new album can be the beginning of exploring an entire back catalogue.
And Egdon Heath have several decades of music waiting to be investigated.
💿 Pre-Order Spring The Past Alive
The new album is available to pre-order through Dutch Music Works.
The official store currently lists the CD at €17.95, before applicable postage and other charges.
🛒 Album Pre-Order Details
Artist: Egdon Heath
Album: Spring The Past Alive
Release date: Friday 11 December 2026
Label: FREIA Music
Formats: CD and digital
Listed CD price: €17.95
Official pre-order page:
For British collectors, the final checkout cost will depend on postage and any applicable import charges.
And if you’re planning to add the album to your progressive rock collection, it’s worth checking the official store for current availability.
📱 Follow Egdon Heath And Watch The New Video
If you’d like to keep up with the band’s return, here are the official channels.
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/p/Egdon-Heath-61595796652445/
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/egdonheath2.0/
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@EgdonHeath2.0
Watch The Mystic Monkey:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vJRuWLG1nQ
Pre-order Spring The Past Alive:
https://store.dutchmusicworks.com/page/egdon-heath
No new headline tour dates have been included in the album announcement.
However, the band have confirmed that they’re already developing further music.
So there’s certainly more to look forward to.
🐉 From The Netherlands To Cymru – The Joy Of Rediscovering Progressive Rock!
Now then, let’s bring things a little closer to home.
Because here at The Riff Report, we’ve always had enormous respect for progressive rock.
Wales has its own rich musical history.
From the pioneering Welsh progressive and psychedelic rock musicians of the 1970s to modern independent artists exploring ambitious sounds, Cymru has never been short of musical imagination.
And progressive rock is a particularly fascinating genre because it places such importance on exploration.
Some bands work with elaborate instrumental arrangements.
Others combine rock with classical influences.
And some develop entire albums around stories, characters and conceptual themes.
But what connects them is a willingness to go beyond conventional songwriting.
Egdon Heath’s return is another reminder of why that attitude matters.
Because music doesn’t suddenly become irrelevant because a band stops releasing albums for a few years.
Or even a few decades!
Sometimes the creative ideas remain.
And the musicians simply need the right opportunity to reconnect.
For Egdon Heath, that opportunity arrived when Jaap Mulder and Aldo Adema began working together again in 2023.
Now, three years later, the music is finally ready to be shared.
And that’s the sort of comeback story we’re always happy to celebrate, butt!
❤️ More Than An Album – A Celebration Of Musical Friendship
Perhaps the most appealing aspect of this announcement isn’t the thirty-year gap.
It’s the story behind the reunion.
Because musicians spend enormous amounts of time together.
Rehearsing.
Recording.
Travelling.
Performing.
And working through the challenges of maintaining a creative partnership.
Sometimes those relationships last a lifetime.
Sometimes people move in different directions.
And occasionally, years later, they rediscover the excitement that brought them together in the first place.
That’s what appears to have happened with Egdon Heath.
The musicians have spent decades working through different projects.
But the creative connection never completely disappeared.
And when they began making music together again, they discovered that the enthusiasm was still there.
Perhaps even stronger because of everything they’d experienced.
There’s something rather wonderful about that.
Because while the music industry often concentrates on youth, trends and commercial success, there’s another side to being a musician.
The simple enjoyment of creating something with people you trust.
And for Egdon Heath, that’s become the foundation of their latest album.
🔥 The Riff Report Verdict – Thirty Years Later, Egdon Heath Still Have A Story To Tell!
Well then, Riff Report crew.
This is a genuinely interesting return.
Egdon Heath released their debut album in 1987.
They developed a dedicated following through four studio records.
And after Nebula arrived in 1996, the original band eventually went its separate ways.
But the musicians didn’t simply disappear.
They continued creating music.
Worked through Seven Day Hunt and TumbleTown.
And maintained the creative relationships that would eventually bring them back together.
Now, thirty years after their last studio album under the Egdon Heath name, they’re preparing to release Spring The Past Alive.
Ten tracks.
Nearly 67 minutes of music.
A reunion of familiar musicians.
And an approach that combines previously unreleased material with fresh compositions.
The official video for The Mystic Monkey provides an opportunity to explore the new chapter ahead of the album’s arrival.
And with the band already developing further material, there’s reason to believe this could become something more substantial than a single anniversary-style reunion.
This is an advance album announcement and artist feature rather than a scored listening review of the complete recording.
But the creative story is certainly compelling.
And for dedicated progressive rock enthusiasts, the album offers an opportunity to reconnect with a band whose musical journey has taken several unexpected turns.
Perhaps that’s what makes the album title so appropriate.
Spring The Past Alive.
Not simply revisiting old memories.
Not trying to turn back the clock.
But taking the experiences, friendships and musical ideas of the past and using them to create something meaningful today.
THIRTY YEARS SINCE NEBULA!
TEN NEWLY PRESENTED TRACKS!
ONE REMARKABLE PROGRESSIVE ROCK RETURN!
EGDON HEATH ARE BACK, BUTT!
And judging by the musicians’ enthusiasm, they aren’t ready to stop creating just yet.
LONG LIVE PROGRESSIVE ROCK! LONG LIVE MUSICAL FRIENDSHIP! AND NEVER WRITE OFF A BAND JUST BECAUSE THEY’VE BEEN QUIET FOR A WHILE! 🐉🎹🎸🔥
💬 Have Your Say, Riff Report Crew!
Right then, you wonderful bunch of prog-loving rockers!
Do YOU remember EGDON HEATH from their original recording years?
Were you a fan of In The City, The Killing Silence, Him, The Snake And I or Nebula?
And are you excited about the release of Spring The Past Alive on 11 December?
We’d also love to know what you think of the new video for The Mystic Monkey.
Have you followed the musicians through Seven Day Hunt or TumbleTown?
Or are you discovering Egdon Heath for the very first time?
And here’s another question.
Which progressive rock band would YOU love to see make a comeback after decades away?
Share your recommendations and memories in the comments.
Because The Riff Report is about more than celebrating the biggest names in rock.
It’s about discovering the hidden gems, supporting independent musicians and celebrating the artists who keep creating music because they genuinely love doing it.
KEEP THE RIFFS LOUD, THE KEYBOARDS EPIC AND THE PROG ROCK ALIVE, BUTT! 🐉🤘🎹
The Riff Report Blog | Music Journalism With Boots At The Barricade.
