Among The Living: Why Anthrax's Hellfest Fill-In Has Florida Thrash Heads Talking
There's a particular kind of chill that runs down a thrasher's spine when the opening gallop of "Among The Living" kicks in, and it doesn't matter who's behind the kit. That's the takeaway from the drum-cam footage UK session ace Darby Todd just shared from Anthrax's June 20 set at Hellfest 2026, where he filled in for Charlie Benante across nearly a dozen shows this year. Todd nailed the part with the kind of unshakable precision that makes you forget, for four minutes, that the guy who wrote those fills isn't the one playing them. It's a reminder of something Florida thrashers have known for decades: this genre survives on discipline as much as aggression.
That discipline is alive and well in our own backyard. Ares continue to fly the flag for classic Florida thrash metal, the kind of riff-first, no-frills attack that traces its lineage straight back to the records that made "Among The Living" a genre cornerstone in the first place. If you've been sleeping on the local thrash underground, now's the time to wake up — acts like Thrash or Die, Wraithkiller, and the crossover-leaning Cold Steel are all proof that the tape-trading spirit never really left the Sunshine State. It just moved venues. Check upcoming shows in your area before you assume there's nothing happening on a Tuesday night in a strip-mall bar — there almost always is.
Dez Fafara's Health Update Hits Close to Home
Heavier news out of the touring world: Coal Chamber and DevilDriver frontman Dez Fafara revealed in a new interview on the Garza Podcast (hosted by Suicide Silence's Chris Garza) that he was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor nearly two years ago, and that surgery is still a possibility on the table. Fafara's candor about the diagnosis — which followed a blackout and vertigo episode that forced Coal Chamber to cancel a U.S. run — is a gut-punch for anyone who's watched him prowl a stage for the better part of three decades. DevilDriver and Coal Chamber have both logged serious mileage through Florida over the years, and the goodwill toward Fafara in rooms from Jacksonville to Fort Lauderdale runs deep. Here's hoping for a clean bill of health and more time on stage, wherever that stage happens to be.
Redemption Riffs: Ellis Drops "Manners"
Eric Ellis, formerly of Bury Your Dead and Reflux, just debuted the video for "Manners" under his new project Ellis, and the backstory alone makes this one worth your attention. Ellis served 14 years in prison on RICO-related charges before returning to music, and the resulting material carries the weight you'd expect from someone who's lived through that kind of reckoning. Florida's hardcore and metalcore scenes have always had a soft spot for stories of survival and second chances — it's baked into the DNA of a region that birthed some of the most brutal, unforgiving music on the planet out of strip malls and VFW halls. If you're into the heavier, more aggressive end of that lineage, Florida acts like Bodysnatcher and Fame On Fire carry a similar no-apologies intensity, even if their sounds branch off into different corners of the heavy spectrum. Ellis's return is a reminder that this scene has always made room for people trying to rebuild.
Sunn O))) and the Case for Florida's Drone-Doom Underground
Amoeba Music's long-running "What's In My Bag?" series just featured Sunn O))) digging through crates at the chain's San Francisco flagship, and while that's a West Coast story on paper, it's worth pausing on for a Florida-specific reason: drone, doom, and post-metal remain some of the most underserved genres in our regional coverage despite a real and growing roster of bands working in that space. Sunn O)))'s entire aesthetic — patience, volume as texture, riffs stretched until they become atmosphere — has quietly seeped into heavier corners of the Florida underground for years now.
We've got stoner and sludge acts putting in real work below the radar. Druggernaut bring a fuzzed-out, low-and-slow sludge attack that owes as much to Eyehategod as it does to Sabbath, while Daleth operate in that same doom/sludge crossover territory with a heavier emphasis on dread. On the death-doom side, Clairsentience blend crushing death metal weight with doom's glacial pacing, which is exactly the kind of hybrid that tends to get overlooked when everyone's busy arguing about which subgenre a band "technically" belongs to. With 22 stoner metal bands and nine post-metal acts currently logged in our index and essentially zero blog coverage to match, consider this an open invitation: if you're playing in that space, submit your band so we can actually start giving this corner of the Florida metal scene the ink it deserves.
Krallice's "Scout Order" and Black Metal's Weirder Edges
Elsewhere in the underground, the perpetually restless Krallice debuted "Living Useless Ritual" from their upcoming album "Scout Order," marking their return to Profound Lore Records alongside a newly booked European/UK tour run. Krallice have spent nearly two decades proving that black metal doesn't have to sound like it did in 1993 to hit just as hard, and that spirit of formal experimentation resonates with a specific corner of the Florida scene that doesn't get nearly enough shine: raw and atmospheric black metal. We've currently got five raw black metal bands logged in the index and not a single blog post dedicated to the style, which feels like an oversight given the quality of what's out there.
Accursed Creator deliver a punishing, unpolished take on the genre that leans into abrasion rather than production polish, while Anavho and Wulf Chant carry the atmospheric torch with their own distinct approaches to tremolo-driven riffing. A God from the Machine and the depressive-leaning Hanashi round out a scene that's quietly become one of the most interesting pockets of extremity in the state. None of these bands sound alike, and that's the point — Florida black metal in 2026 isn't chasing a single template, it's fracturing into a dozen different directions, much like Krallice themselves have done since day one.
The Road Ahead: Tours, Tributes, and a Little Levity
On the touring front, King 810 announced their "Autumnal Rites Tour" with Guerrilla Warfare kicking off in September, giving fans another reason to circle their calendars once the routing drops city by city. Meanwhile, Santa Cruz hardcore outfit Drain paid tribute to Sick of It All's Lou Koller — who passed away just days prior — by covering "It's Clobberin' Time" at Warped Tour, a gesture that hit hard across the entire hardcore community, Florida's included, given how much the NYHC blueprint shaped what happened down here in the 90s and 2000s.
Elsewhere, Primus dropped a Cage Claypool-directed video for "The Ol' Grizz," pulled from their "A Handful of Nuggs" EP and notable as one of the first studio recordings to feature new drummer John Hoffman. And in the "everybody needs a break sometimes" column: Poison's Bret Michaels has been ordered by doctors to take three to four weeks off following kidney stone surgery, sidelining his "Live & Amplified" solo tour temporarily. Get well soon, Bret — Florida crowds will be ready whenever you are.
And if you need a laugh after all that, MetalSucks' recurring Disgruntled Dad Reviews column tackled Soulburn's "The Braveheart of Nightmares" this week, with Dave Mustcomplain trying — and hilariously struggling — to keep an open mind at his therapist's suggestion. It's a good reminder that even the most jaded corners of this scene still know how to laugh at themselves, which might be the most metal thing of all.
That's the state of things as we head deeper into 2026: a mix of legacy acts proving their staying power, new metal bands 2026 is shaping up to introduce, and a Florida underground that's still churning out some of the best metal bands in the country if you know where to look. Keep checking upcoming shows, keep supporting your local bill, and if your band's been grinding without coverage, you know what to do.