Justin Broadrick Goes Pop, Metal's Old Guard Reshuffles: Inside a Week of Unexpected Crossovers
Sometimes the strangest metal story of the week isn't a new record or a tour announcement — it's a name showing up somewhere nobody expected. That's exactly what happened when word broke that Justin Broadrick, the man behind industrial metal pioneers Godflesh and the atmospheric doom/drone project Jesu, appears on two tracks from Phoebe Bridgers' new album — "Bobby" and "Best Dressed." For anyone who's followed Broadrick's career, this isn't quite as jarring as it might sound on paper. Jesu has always operated in the blurry zone between shoegaze, doom, and melancholic ambient textures, and Broadrick's ear for atmosphere has made him a quietly influential figure well outside the confines of the metal underground. Still, seeing his name attached to one of indie rock's most acclaimed songwriters is a reminder that the global metal scene's most interesting figures rarely stay in their lane.
It's worth sitting with that for a second. Godflesh helped invent industrial metal in the late '80s, and Jesu turned that same DNA into something slower, sadder, and more expansive. Broadrick popping up on a Phoebe Bridgers record isn't a novelty — it's evidence that the sonic vocabulary metal has spent decades refining (drone, distortion, repetition, dread) has become part of the wider musical language. If you're building a list of the best metal albums of all time, Godflesh's early catalog deserves a spot, and Jesu's discography remains a masterclass in how heavy music can be devastating without needing a single blast beat.
Lineup Shakeups: The Season of Reckoning
While Broadrick was quietly expanding metal's footprint into pop, several bands were dealing with much messier questions about who actually belongs in the lineup. Sid Wilson has reportedly and quietly confirmed his exit from Slipknot, closing the book on a long stretch of rumor and speculation with about as little fanfare as a departure of that magnitude can get. For a band whose mythology has always been built on a rotating cast of masked chaos agents, losing a founding member is never a small thing, and the muted way this news has trickled out says a lot about how differently bands are handling personnel changes in 2026 compared to the tabloid-style dramas of decades past.
Anthrax's Scott Ian, meanwhile, took a much more introspective approach to a decision made over three decades ago. Speaking on the Naked Lunch podcast, Ian revisited the band's 1992 choice to fire original singer Joey Belladonna, calling it a heartbreaking decision and admitting flatly, "In hindsight, I was wrong." That's a rare thing to hear from a guitarist in one of thrash's Big Four bands — a genuine, unguarded reassessment of a call that reshaped the group's entire trajectory. It's a good reminder that even among 80s metal bands who are still touring arenas and headlining festivals today, the human cost of lineup churn doesn't disappear just because the band survived and thrived.
Nevermore's camp is dealing with the opposite situation — not looking backward at a mistake, but trying to move forward after tragedy. Drummer Van Williams spoke to India's Sinusoidal Music about new vocalist Berzan Önen, who made his live debut with the band this past spring in Istanbul, saying the late Warrel Dane "would be proud of the guy we chose to replace him." Given Dane's stature as one of progressive metal's most distinctive vocalists, that's a heavy statement to make, but it signals a band trying to honor a legacy rather than simply cash in on a reunion.
And then there's Aaron Stainthorpe, unceremoniously dismissed from My Dying Bride in 2025 after 35 years fronting the band he co-founded. Stainthorpe didn't stay quiet about it, telling Blabbermouth that "by kicking me out, they showed their cards," before launching Towards the Sinister with three of his former bandmates — guitarist Calvin Robertshaw, bassist Ade Jackson, and drummer Rick Miah. It's a messy, very public split, but it's also proof that doom metal's old guard isn't going quietly. Fans of atmospheric, funeral-paced doom should keep an eye on how this new project shapes up alongside other heavy hitters in that space, including doom and post-metal acts like Monuments Collapse, who work in similarly bleak, weighted territory.
Chaos on Stage: Abbath and the Unpredictability of Live Metal
If lineup drama dominated the news cycle off stage, Abbath provided the on-stage version. Footage circulating this week shows the Norwegian black metal legend storming off less than ten minutes into a headlining set — notably without his usual corpse paint, which in hindsight reads like an omen. Live metal has always thrived on unpredictability, but there's a difference between a chaotic, cathartic show and one that simply ends before it starts. Whatever the full story turns out to be, it's a stark contrast to the far more good-natured chaos happening elsewhere on stages this month.
Case in point: Primus covering Dio's "Holy Diver" not once but twice in the same week, joined by Death Angel and Kerry King vocalist Mark Osegueda. The pairing made its most notable appearance at Dynamo Metalfest in Eindhoven, where fan-filmed footage shows Osegueda absolutely relishing the chance to channel Dio's larger-than-life delivery over Primus's warped, funk-inflected low end. It shouldn't work on paper — Primus's angular weirdness against one of the most straightforwardly anthemic songs in heavy metal history — but that's exactly why it does. "Holy Diver" remains one of the best heavy metal songs ever written for a reason, and hearing it filtered through Les Claypool's sensibility is the kind of unlikely festival moment that reminds you why live metal in 2026 is still worth chasing down. If you're planning your festival season, keep tabs on upcoming shows for more crossover pairings like this one.
Alexisonfire's New Track and the Post-Hardcore/Metal Overlap
Alexisonfire debuted a brand-new song, "Dogs of Chernobyl," live in Toronto — emphatically not a Megadeth cover, in case anyone was wondering. The band's post-hardcore roots have always shared DNA with heavier metallic scenes, and a new track debuting live rather than via studio leak is a refreshingly old-school way to introduce new material to a hometown crowd. It's a good moment to remember that the line between hardcore, post-hardcore, and metal has always been porous — a fact reflected across the index in bands working the death/hardcore/sludge crossover, like Consecuencias.
The Rest of the Circuit: Studios, Stadiums, and Southpaw's Ongoing Controversy
Elsewhere, Limp Bizkit have reportedly returned to the studio, with photos of recording sessions circulating online — no confirmed release date yet, but enough smoke to get longtime fans speculating about what a new chapter might sound like heading into the back half of 2026. Queens of the Stone Age also announced a new album, continuing a year that's kept alt-metal and hard rock adjacent acts firmly in the conversation alongside heavier fare.
KISS's Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley threw out the ceremonial first pitch at a Los Angeles Angels game, a reminder that even in their later years, KISS remains as embedded in American pop culture spectacle as any band in rock history. And in less triumphant news, hardcore band Southpaw FLHC continues to push back publicly against racism allegations amid rumors of being dropped by their label, with members making pointed statements defending themselves online. It's an ugly, unresolved situation, and one that's likely to keep circulating through scene discourse regardless of how the band responds.
On the lighter end of things, actor Javier Bardem's reported love of metal has apparently sent shockwaves through certain corners of the internet this week — proof that celebrity metalheads never stop being a source of fascination, no matter how many times it happens.
What It All Means
Taken together, this week's news paints a picture of a global metal scene in constant motion — bands reckoning with old wounds, reshuffling lineups, launching new projects out of old ashes, and occasionally imploding on stage in real time. It's messy, contradictory, and occasionally exhausting, but it's also exactly why the scene stays interesting decade after decade. Whether you're tracking new metal bands 2026 has to offer or revisiting the best metal bands of the 80s and 90s dealing with their own legacies in real time, there's no shortage of storylines to follow. If your own band has news worth covering, don't wait for us to find you — submit your band and get on our radar.