Eric Bass Steps Back, Shinedown Steps Up: What a Jacksonville Band's Crisis Says About Metal's Mental Health Reckoning
Every so often a piece of tour news lands that isn't really about a tour at all — it's about the human cost of keeping a band running at full throttle for two decades. That's the story this week out of Jacksonville's own Shinedown, whose guitarist Zach Myers addressed bassist Eric Bass's decision to step away from the road to focus on his mental health. Josh Sturm of Kairos and Zack Mack are filling in, and Myers made it clear this wasn't a rift or a burnout headline dressed up for clicks.
"It was important for him to take a step back and take some time at home," Myers told Rock 102.1 KFMA's Razor.
That's it. No drama, no spin — just a band built in Florida, that's spent twenty-plus years as one of the state's most commercially successful heavy exports, treating a bandmate's wellbeing as more important than a routing sheet. For a scene that still romanticizes burning the candle at both ends, that's a genuinely notable moment, and it's worth sitting with as we look at everything else moving through the Florida metal scene this week.
Kataklysm's 35 Years and the "Outside the Box" Blueprint Florida Bands Should Study
Up in Canada, Kataklysm frontman Maurizio Iacono spent a recent interview reflecting on 35 years of death metal, name-checking the band's most unhinged era — "Sorcery" and "Temple Of Knowledge" — as a period defined by refusing to sound like anyone else.
"We always thought outside the box," Iacono said of the band's evolution.
It's a simple line, but it's the exact ethos that's kept Florida's death metal lineage relevant decade after decade, and it's the same instinct you can hear in the state's current underground when bands refuse to stay in one lane. Look at Eloisa Leggo, whose profile reads like a genre encyclopedia — death/doom, mathcore, powerviolence, folk metal, industrial, screamo, and about two dozen other tags stacked on top of each other. That kind of restless genre-hopping isn't a gimmick; it's the same "thinking outside the box" mentality Iacono credits for Kataklysm's longevity, and it's exactly the spirit driving a lot of the new metal bands 2026 watchers should be tracking out of the Sunshine State.
It's also worth remembering Florida didn't just birth technical brutality — it also birthed genre-scrambling shock and theater. Central Florida's own Marilyn Manson built an entire career out of refusing to sit still stylistically, blending industrial, glam, and metal into something the mainstream didn't have a box for. Whatever your feelings on that catalog, the instinct to defy categorization is baked into this state's DNA.
The Melvins' New Band Gatta Morta Is a Reminder Florida's Noise Rock Underground Deserves Attention
Buzz Osborne apparently didn't need another band. Neither did JD Pinkus or Coady Willis. They started one anyway. Gatta Morta — the new project pairing Melvins and Butthole Surfers pedigree with Big Business and Mr. Phyzzz personnel — dropped its debut EP "Burn Witch Burn" via Amphetamine Reptile Records this week, and it's the kind of sludgy, unpredictable noise rock that should get more ears turned toward Florida's own scrappy corner of that world.
Tampa's Wrong operates in that same abrasive, noise-rock lane, and frankly this is a genre that doesn't get enough shine on this site or anywhere else covering Florida heavy music. If you're a fan of Melvins-adjacent chaos, do yourself a favor and dig into the local noise rock underground rather than waiting for a legacy act to remind you it exists.
Northlane's "Anemoia" and the State of Florida Metalcore Heading Into 2026
Australian heavy music mainstays Northlane announced their seventh album, "Anemoia," due October 30, alongside a suffocating new single called "CUT_it." Northlane have spent the better part of two decades pushing metalcore's boundaries into djent and electronic territory, and their continued evolution is a good excuse to check in on Florida's own deep bench in that space.
This state has been a metalcore incubator for a long time now — Underoath helped define the genre's post-hardcore edge out of Tampa, A Day To Remember turned Ocala into a launching pad for pop-punk-inflected metalcore that broke internationally, and current-generation acts like Wage War, Bodysnatcher, and Nevertel are keeping the pipeline full with beatdown, deathcore, and nu-metal-adjacent flavors respectively. If Northlane's global audience is any indication, there's still a massive appetite for heavy music that isn't afraid to sound modern, and Florida's metalcore scene remains one of the deepest rosters in the country to satisfy it.
The Dillinger Escape Plan's Final Tour and Florida's Overlooked Mathcore Streak
The Dillinger Escape Plan added a second Brooklyn date to their farewell "Calculating Infinity" tour, with thoughtcrimes and BORE opening. Dillinger's chaotic, time-signature-shredding legacy is one of the most influential in heavy music's last 30 years, and it's a genre — mathcore — that Florida rarely gets credit for touching. But it's in the DNA of some of our more adventurous acts; Eloisa Leggo's tag list includes mathcore right alongside grindcore and powerviolence, proof that the state's underground isn't afraid of unpredictable time signatures and controlled chaos, even if it doesn't headline arenas for it.
Ginger's Already Writing the Next Wildhearts Record — And Florida Thrash Bands Know That Hunger
Wildhearts leader Ginger revealed he's already written material for the album that will follow "Northern Spirit," a record that hasn't even come out yet. It's the kind of relentless, can't-stop-creating energy that defines the best songwriters in any genre, and it's a mentality that maps directly onto Florida's thrash revival scene, where bands aren't waiting around for permission to keep the riffs coming.
Chaos represents exactly that lineage — Florida thrash metal built on speed, aggression, and a refusal to slow down, standing shoulder to shoulder with genre peers like Malicious Intent, Cold Steel, and Prostitute. Together they form a thrash and crossover backbone that rarely gets national press but keeps this state's live circuit brutal and fast every single weekend. If Ginger's writing the next Wildhearts record before the current one drops, Florida's thrash scene is proof that same restless work ethic isn't unique to the UK — it's a global metalhead trait, and this state has it in spades.
Content Gaps Worth Filling: Post-Metal, NWOTHM, Crust Punk, and Raw Black Metal
None of this week's headlines directly touch post-metal, NWOTHM, crust punk, or raw black metal, but that doesn't mean those scenes deserve to sit on the sidelines. Florida's post-metal contingent — including Moirae and Pipe Dreamer — is quietly building some of the most atmospheric, patient heavy music in the state, a stark contrast to the blast-beat chaos dominating this week's national headlines. On the traditionalist side, Argus and Hocus Pocus are flying the NWOTHM flag for anyone who thinks heavy metal peaked with denim, leather, and twin-guitar harmonies — and honestly, they might be right. And if you want raw, unpolished aggression, Elva Blaidd is holding down the state's raw black metal corner with the kind of lo-fi ferocity this subgenre demands.
The Takeaway
Between Eric Bass prioritizing his health, Kataklysm's three-decade commitment to weirdness, and a handful of legacy acts proving creative restlessness never really goes away, this week's headlines all point back to the same lesson: longevity in this genre isn't about grinding yourself into dust, it's about staying curious and knowing when to protect yourself. Florida's scene — from Jacksonville arena rock to Tampa thrash to whatever unclassifiable thing Eloisa Leggo is doing next — has both qualities in abundance. Catch it live before it changes shape again by checking upcoming shows around the state, and if your band belongs in this conversation, submit your band to get on our radar.
