Mike IX

Mike IX Williams is the vocalist of Eyehategod, the New Orleans sludge metal band he co-founded in the 1980s, whose records are foundational for the genre internationally. Eyehategod's sound — fusing the slowness of doom metal with hardcore punk abrasion — developed an approach hugely influential on extreme metal, and Williams' vocals bring a raw, exhausted urgency rooted in blues and punk traditions of the American South. His writing extends his practice into literary engagement with addiction and ruin. His near-fatal liver failure in 2016, and the transplant made possible by fan fundraising, became part of the band's mythology — survival sitting alongside the harrowing imagery of its art.