Iommi's Solo Turn, Viking Myths, and Why Florida's Own Amon, Cold and Eerie Deserve a Second Look

Every few weeks the national metal press drops a batch of headlines that, on the surface, have nothing to do with the Sunshine State. Tony Iommi announcing a solo record. Amon Amarth's Johan Hegg fact-checking Viking history. A former W.A.S.P. guitarist fighting cancer in France. But if you squint at the right angle — and if you've spent any time digging through the roster at Florida Metal Index — you start noticing how these stories rhyme with what's happening in our own backyard clubs and rehearsal spaces. This week's rhyme scheme runs through three names that Florida heads already know well: Cold, Amon, and Eerie.

Iommi's "From The Dark" and Florida's Overlooked NWOTHM Underground

Let's start with the big one. Tony Iommi has announced From The Dark, his new solo album due October 23 via BMG, featuring Norwegian vocalist Jorn Lande and a first single, "World Alone." In the same round of press, Iommi revealed he originally wanted his old Black Sabbath partner Geezer Butler on the record but Butler "couldn't do it." It's a small, human detail buried in a big announcement — a reminder that even the architects of heavy metal are still negotiating logistics, schedules, and old friendships decades into their careers.

That kind of riff-first, no-frills devotion to the Sabbath blueprint is exactly what's quietly thriving in Florida's heavy metal and New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal underground — a scene that, frankly, doesn't get enough ink. Bands like Hollentor, mixing black metal grit with power metal grandeur, and Atlas, working the line between heavy metal and melodic death metal, are proof that the state's appetite for Iommi-style riff worship never left. Add in the trad-thrash energy of Metal Militia and you've got a lineage that stretches from Birmingham to Tampa without missing a beat. If you're compiling a list of the best metal bands to watch coming out of Florida in the next year, this NWOTHM-adjacent corner of the scene deserves a hard look — it's one of the most underserved genres in our own index, and Iommi's continued relevance is a good excuse to shine a light on it.

Amon Amarth's Viking Myths — and Florida's Own Amon

Elsewhere, Amon Amarth frontman Johan Hegg spent a recent interview walking through ten Viking myths, separating fact from Hollywood fiction — no, the blood eagle wasn't as common as pop culture suggests, and drinking from enemy skulls is mostly legend. It's a fun rabbit hole for anyone who loves the intersection of extreme metal and actual history, and it's the kind of long-form storytelling that keeps melodic death metal's mythological wing so durable decades after Amon Amarth first picked up longswords as album art.

Here in Florida, we've got our own Amon — a black metal and death metal outfit whose name alone invites the comparison, even if the sound and mythology draw from very different wells. Where the Swedish giants lean into Norse saga, Florida's black/death underground tends to dig into darker, more esoteric territory, and that's a tradition worth tracing further. Imperial Conquest and Dark Tomorrow both work that black-death borderland, while melodic black metal specifically — a genre with five bands in our index and zero blog coverage until now — is represented by acts like Deimos and Tunnels of Set. If Amon Amarth's global success proves anything, it's that there's still a hungry audience for death metal steeped in myth and menace, and Florida's melodic black metal contingent is criming underappreciated by comparison.

King Diamond's Guitar Chair, Mars vs. Mötley, and the Business of Breaking Up

Two separate stories this week dealt with the messier side of band membership. Andy La Rocque confirmed his departure from King Diamond was "mutual" and that his own project, Lex Legion, will carry on regardless. Meanwhile, Tommy Lee opened up on Billy Corgan's podcast about the legal battle with Mick Mars over his exit from Mötley Crüe, calling the entire ordeal "awkward and really hurtful." Different bands, different decades, same underlying truth: even legendary lineups eventually hit friction points that outlive the music itself.

It's worth remembering that Florida's own scene has weathered its share of lineup shuffles, splits, and reunions over the decades — that's just the nature of any regional ecosystem built on DIY touring, day jobs, and long-term commitment to a genre that rarely pays the bills. It's also why platforms like this one matter: documenting who's playing where, and with whom, before the history gets rewritten in a podcast interview twenty years from now.

Chris Holmes' Health News and a Hardcore Loss That Hits Close to Home

Not every headline this week was about riffs and tours. Former W.A.S.P. guitarist Chris Holmes revealed he's been diagnosed with prostate cancer and has begun radiotherapy in France, just a few years after beating throat and neck cancer. And in the hardcore world, Anthony "TJ" Catalfo, who drummed for Baltimore's Ruiner from 2009 to 2010, passed away at 40 after a two-year battle with colon cancer.

These stories land differently than tour announcements or album reveals, but they're just as much a part of the metal news cycle — and a reminder of how tightly wound this community is, even across state lines and subgenres. Florida's own death metal and hardcore crossover scene, represented in our index by bands like Eerie, has always drawn strength from that same sense of mutual support — a scene that shows up for each other at benefit shows, merch drives, and every unglamorous moment in between. If you've been to a basement hardcore matinee in Tampa, Orlando, or Jacksonville, you already know that solidarity isn't a talking point down here, it's baked into the culture.

Cold Waves Fest, Industrial Roots, and Florida's Cold

Buried in this week's roundup of tour and festival news was a mention of Cold Waves fest, the long-running Chicago-based industrial and synth-driven event that's become a pilgrimage site for fans of darker electronic sounds. It's a genre pairing that doesn't get talked about enough alongside metal, even though industrial's DNA runs through so much of what gets played at metal clubs on any given weekend.

Florida has its own entry point into that world with Cold, the alternative metal, nu metal, and post-grunge act that's carried the state's late-90s/early-2000s heavy rock legacy forward. And if you want the genuinely industrial-leaning side of the region's rock underground, The Haunt — working in alternative rock, gothic rock, and industrial rock — is the band to check out. It's a genre pocket that fits neatly next to the post-metal scene our index also tracks but hasn't covered enough; nine post-metal bands call Florida home right now, and that's a story for another week.

What This Means for the Local Scene

None of this week's national headlines originated in Florida, but that's kind of the point of covering a regional scene responsibly — you connect the dots without pretending your local bands are on tour with Iommi or sharing a stage with Amon Amarth. What you can do is use the moment to point people toward the death metal, grindcore, and hardcore lineage still very much alive in acts like Bodybox, or toward the thrash, black metal, and doom pockets that rarely make it onto Blabbermouth or Metal Injection's radar.

If you're a fan trying to get a real handle on the Florida metal scene heading into 2026, the smartest move is checking upcoming shows around the state this fall — there's a noticeable uptick in NWOTHM, melodic black metal, and post-metal bookings that deserves an audience. And if you're in a new metal band 2026 is supposed to belong to, don't wait for a national headline to validate you — submit your band and get on the map where it actually counts: right here, in the region that's been quietly shaping heavy music's future for decades.