Snot's Return, Aftershock's Stacked Lineup, and Why Bay Area Thrash Still Travels the World

There's a particular kind of chill that runs through the California underground when a band everyone assumed was gone for good suddenly resurfaces with a record deal in hand. That's the mood this week as news breaks that Snot, the Santa Barbara nu-metal/hardcore punk crew that helped define the genre-blurring chaos of the late '90s, has signed to BLKIIBLK and is prepping its first new album in more than two decades. Add in a stacked Aftershock 2026 set-time reveal, a fresh batch of pro-shot Bay Area thrash footage making the rounds internationally, and a producer with deep Deftones ties launching a new label, and you've got a week that says a lot about where this state's heavy music has been — and where it's still going.