Nü-Metal's Second Wave, Shred Legends, and Where Texas Doom Fits the 2026 Conversation
Some weeks the national metal news cycle feels like it was assembled specifically to mess with a Texas writer's head — a viral TikTok nü-metal band blowing up overnight, a Swedish shred god dropping a new record, a Finnish war metal band getting the disgruntled-dad treatment, and a death metal institution announcing its own funeral all in the same 48 hours. But dig past the headlines and there's a throughline worth tracing back to the Lone Star State, where doom, speed, and raw black metal are all quietly having their own moment.
Grommet, TikTok, and the Nü-Metal Revival Texas Helped Build
Let's start with the one generating the most noise outside metal media entirely: Grommet, the Deftones-worshipping nü-metal revivalists who blew up on TikTok earlier this year, just dropped their debut single "FSU." It's the kind of story that would've sounded absurd a decade ago — a downtuned, detuned, Chino-adjacent sound going viral with Gen Z — but it tracks with a broader pattern we've been watching develop all year. Nü-metal never actually left; it just went dormant in the mainstream while bands kept building on its bones in basements and VFW halls.
Texas has deep nü-metal and post-hardcore roots, and that lineage is still very much alive in acts working adjacent corners of heavy music today. Kingdom of Giants just dropped the "Past Life" video alongside their new album "Usurper," and their fall tour kicks off this weekend — proof that the moody, groove-forward sound Grommet is riding into virality has never stopped being a viable lane for bands actually touring in 2026. If you're tracking new metal bands 2026 has to offer, the nü-metal revival isn't a nostalgia play anymore; it's a genuinely active subgenre with new blood entering from both coasts of the internet.
Speaking of nü-metal's actual elders, Kittie just celebrated 25 years of their landmark album "Oracle" with re-recorded versions of "Mouthful of Poison" and "What I Always Wanted." It's a reminder that the genre's foundational records hold up, and that the bands who lived through the first wave are still shaping how the second one gets received. Texas metalcore acts like Memphis May Fire and Upon a Burning Body owe no small debt to that early-2000s lineage, and it's worth watching whether the Grommet-fueled resurgence pulls more young Texas bands toward that detuned, melodic-aggressive middle ground.
Yngwie, Rik Emmett, and the 80s Metal Bands Still Setting the Bar
On the opposite end of the generational spectrum, Yngwie Malmsteen released the video for "(On The) Battlefield" off his new album "Hell Or High Water," and Triumph's Rik Emmett announced a signature guitar pedal with Mojotone called the Rock & Roll Machine. Neither of these is a Texas story on the surface, but both speak directly to a tradition this state has never let die: neoclassical shred and arena-ready hard rock built on technical mastery.
Texas speed and power metal has a legitimate claim to the throne here. Helstar has been flying that flag out of Houston since the early 80s, putting the state on the map alongside the genre's coastal and European heavyweights, and their catalog belongs in any honest conversation about the best metal albums of all time within the US power/speed metal canon. With Malmsteen still cranking out new material and gear manufacturers still chasing vintage 80s metal bands tones, it's a good moment to remember Texas was never just a stop on the tour route for this stuff — it helped write the rulebook.
Archgoat, War Metal, and Texas's Raw Black Metal Underground
MetalSucks' Disgruntled Dad column tackled Archgoat's "Nightbringer, Lightbringer" this week, and for once the consistently annoyed Dave Mustcomplain seemed to find something to genuinely appreciate in the Finnish war metal veterans' filth. It's a small thing, but it's a useful excuse to point out how healthy raw and atmospheric black metal remain as undercovered corners of the Texas scene.
This state has produced genuine black metal institutions — Absu has been blending black and thrash metal out of the Dallas area since the late 80s with a sound as uncompromising as anything coming out of Scandinavia — and the current crop carrying that torch deserves more ink than it typically gets. Bands like Necrofier, Trenchant, and Maiestas are working the same raw, atmospheric, unrelenting territory that makes a record like Archgoat's resonate with extreme metal purists. If you're building a list of the best heavy metal songs released by Texas acts this decade, the state's black metal underground is where a lot of that writing is happening right now, largely out of the spotlight.
Memoriam, Endgame, and Why Texas Doom Deserves the Same Weight
Memoriam's new single "At The Point Of No Return," pulled from their upcoming — and reportedly final — studio album "Endgame," is a gut-punch of a death/doom track reflecting on the human cost of war. It's a heavy listen in every sense, and the gravity of a legacy death metal band closing out its own story with this kind of weight is the sort of news that reverberates through doom circles well beyond the UK.
Texas doom and stoner metal has been building its own case for national attention for years, and this is a good moment to shine some light on it. Oat has been carving out a reputation in the state's doom and stoner metal underground with the kind of heavy, deliberate riffing that pairs naturally with the mood Memoriam's new material is chasing. They're part of a broader Texas lineage that includes The Sword, whose stoner-doom records helped put Austin on the map internationally, alongside current acts like Red Beard Wall, Venus Victrix, and Antero Sleeps keeping the riffs slow and the amps loud across the state. When national outlets cover a band like Memoriam closing out their catalog with a war-themed death/doom statement, it's worth remembering Texas has its own doom scene making equally heavy statements, just with less press behind it.
Touring News Worth Circling on the Calendar
As Cities Burn announced an early 2027 U.S. tour with Baby In The 90s opening select dates, and Kingdom of Giants' fall run starts this weekend behind "Usurper." Neither is routed through Texas as of this writing, but both are worth tracking as metal bands touring 2026 and into 2027 continue to firm up their schedules — Texas venues have a habit of landing dates late in the announcement cycle, and plenty of these routing gaps get filled in the months ahead. Keep an eye on upcoming shows across the state as these tours solidify, because the Texas metal scene's club circuit tends to pick up a disproportionate share of fall and spring routing once bands commit to a full U.S. run.
The Lighter Side: Bodily Fluids as a Business Model
And because no roundup of this scene is complete without acknowledging its sense of humor, MetalSucks' Net Worthless column returned with Johnny Spreadsheets dispensing his latest not-technically-illegal tip for keeping a struggling band solvent: monetizing bodily fluids, "all kinds," to pad the bottom line. It's absurd, it's a little horrifying, and it's also not that far removed from the reality touring DIY bands across Texas have been living for decades — selling plasma between van shifts, hawking merch out of a cooler, doing whatever it takes to make it to the next city. If there's a thesis buried in both the Net Worthless bit and the Disgruntled Dad column this week, it's that metal journalism is at its best when it doesn't take itself too seriously while still respecting the music enough to call out what's actually good — in this case, apparently, Archgoat.
Smaller Signals Worth Watching
A handful of smaller releases rounded out the week's docket: Commoner and Split Chain premiered the "Cobalt Blue" video alongside Commoner's debut full-length "Former Self," Mauled dropped a redux video for their 2025 track "Dead Asleep," and Queens of the Stone Age's in-studio World Cafe session hit the internet with four song performances and interview segments. None of these are Texas stories directly, but they're the kind of steady drip of releases that keep the broader heavy music ecosystem healthy heading into next year — and a good reminder for any Texas band sitting on a finished record that there's no shortage of outlets hungry for new material. If that's you, submit your band and let the regional scene know what you're working on.
Between a viral nü-metal single, a shred legend's new album, a death metal institution's farewell, and the usual gallows humor from the column writers, this week's news cycle had a little bit of everything. The connective tissue, as always, runs straight through Texas — whether it's the doom riffs of Oat, the black metal weight of Absu and Necrofier, or the speed metal lineage Helstar's been carrying since before most of this year's viral bands were born.