MetalSucks' Disgruntled Dad Turns His Blood Pressure Cuff On California Doom Act Nothing This Labor Day Weekend
Labor Day weekend is supposed to be about barbecues and one last trip to the lake, but the metal underground doesn't take holidays off. National outlets spent the long weekend dumping noise, satire, and legacy-band interviews on us all at once, and buried in that pile is a story that hits close to home: California doom outfit Nothing just got the full treatment from MetalSucks' recurring satire column, Disgruntled Dad Reviews. The target this time is "Godslaughter," and the reviewer-in-character, one Dave Mustcomplain, apparently approached it fresh off a bypass surgery, which tells you everything you need to know about the intensity level involved.
Whether you take the bit seriously or not, there's something worth noting for anyone tracking the California metal scene: doom and sludge bands from this state keep landing on national radar, even in joke form. Getting roasted by a fictional cranky dad is still a form of attention most unsigned bands would kill for, and it puts a spotlight on the fact that California's doom underground — from the Bay Area to the high desert — continues to produce records dense and punishing enough to test even a satirical writer's patience. If you're digging into the current wave of heavy, slow-motion riffage coming out of this state, Nothing belongs in that conversation alongside scene stalwarts like Black Cobra, Slow Machine, and Cult of the Cosmic Bong. It's a reminder that when people ask what defines the best metal bands working in doom right now, California's answer isn't a small one.
80s Metal Bands Still Setting the Bar — And California's NWOTHM Scene Is Listening
Meanwhile, over in the world of heritage metal, Accept guitarist Wolf Hoffmann told Anfetamina Y Rock that it's too soon to start work on a follow-up to 2024's "Humanoid," even with the band's 50th-anniversary retrospective "Teutonic Titans 1976–2026" fresh on shelves. It's a small, patient update, but it lands at an interesting moment for the genre Accept helped invent. Fifty years on, 80s metal bands are still the reference point every new traditional metal act gets measured against, and California has been quietly building its own answer to that legacy through its New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal contingent.
Bands like Angelrage and Reog are carrying that torch right now, leaning into the galloping riffs, soaring vocals, and unapologetic theatricality that made records like Accept's "Balls to the Wall" or Iron Maiden's early catalog into some of the best heavy metal songs ever committed to tape. It's a genre that's long been underserved in coverage despite a healthy roster of California bands working in it, and Hoffmann's patient, no-rush approach to new material is a good model for a scene that's more interested in doing things right than doing them fast. Progressive-leaning acts like Slavior are proof that the traditional metal impulse in this state doesn't have to stay retro to be effective — there's real range here, and it deserves more attention than it's gotten.
Bay Area Thrash Legends Shuffle the Lineup for Fall Dates
Speaking of legacy, Bay Area thrash institution Forbidden announced that Chris Kontos and Matt Camacho will sit out the band's fall tour, with temporary replacements stepping in to keep the dates on the calendar. It's a low-drama, business-as-usual kind of announcement, but it's worth flagging for anyone who cares about the health of California's thrash lineage. Forbidden helped define the sound coming out of the Bay Area alongside the genre's other titans, and the fact that they're still routing tours in 2026 — even with lineup adjustments — says something about the durability of that scene.
That durability is visible up and down the state right now. Younger thrash-rooted acts like Shattered, Morbid Life Society, and Cryptic Ministry are keeping that aggressive, riff-forward tradition alive at the club level, while bands like Exmortus continue to prove that California thrash can absorb neoclassical flourishes without losing an ounce of speed or violence. If you want to see where the genre's future is being written, it's not just in reissues and legacy tours — it's in the local bills these bands are still headlining every month. Check the upcoming shows listings if you want proof the scene's pulse is still strong.
Underoath's Warped Tour Stop in Long Beach Closes Out a Series
On the post-hardcore side of things, Underoath released the final live clip in their video series from this year's Vans Warped Tour stop in Long Beach, this one capturing a performance of "Damn Excuses." It's a small release in the grand scheme of things, but Warped Tour's return to Southern California soil, even in its modern touring-festival form, matters for a region that basically invented the aesthetic the tour built its identity around back in the 2000s.
Long Beach and the greater LA basin have never stopped producing bands that live in that same emotionally heavy, riff-conscious space between metalcore and post-hardcore. Authors of Fate and Empathy both work that same aggressive-but-melodic vein locally, and with Warped continuing to route through California, it's worth keeping an eye on which regional acts get pulled onto undercards next. If you're a band chasing that kind of opportunity, this is exactly the sort of momentum worth positioning yourself for — and yes, that's your cue to submit your band if you haven't already gotten on our radar.
The Bigger Picture: Cancel Culture Talk and a Genre Still Figuring Itself Out
Dave Mustaine made headlines again this week, telling Metal Hammer Greece's TV War program that he believes "the world has changed for the worse, with all the cancel culture, all the hatred that people have," echoing comments he made in a separate interview about no longer being able to "say stuff in the United States." It's not a new position for Mustaine, who's drawn scrutiny before for his political commentary, but it lands in a genre that has always had an uneasy relationship between its outlaw image and the actual politics of its biggest stars. California's scene, built on decades of punk-adjacent DIY ethics and a genuinely diverse fanbase, tends to wear that tension differently than the arena-thrash generation Mustaine represents — worth remembering as these debates keep surfacing in interview after interview.
Elsewhere, the news cycle offered a reminder of just how wide metal's reach has become: 95-year-old William Shatner debuted his heavy metal band, THE *UCKERS, at a Riot Fest aftershow, tearing into Ozzy Osbourne and Metallica covers before his main festival slot. It's a novelty story, sure, but it's also proof that the appetite for loud, riff-driven music isn't confined to any one demographic or region. That same appetite is what keeps California's club circuit full on a Tuesday night, whether the bill is stacked with veteran acts or bands nobody outside a 20-mile radius has heard of yet.
What to Watch Going Into the Fall
Between Amon Amarth prepping "The Allfather Awakens" for an October 2 release through Metal Blade, Sepultura's television appearances in Brazil, and DragonForce restructuring around Marc Hudson's tinnitus-related step-back, the national conversation is moving fast heading into the back half of 2026. None of that changes what's true locally: California continues to be one of the most reliable engines for new metal bands in 2026, spanning doom, thrash, NWOTHM, and metalcore in equal measure. Acts like System Of A Down proved decades ago that this state can produce genre-scrambling bands that redefine what heavy music sounds like, and newer aggressive exports like Drain are carrying that same restless energy into crossover thrash and hardcore right now.
Whatever your subgenre of choice, the message from this particular news cycle is consistent: legacy acts are moving carefully, younger bands are filling in the gaps with real urgency, and California's underground keeps grinding regardless of what's trending nationally. Keep tabs on your local bills, support the doom, thrash, and NWOTHM acts making noise in your backyard, and don't sleep on the satirical column that gave a California doom band its fifteen minutes this week — sometimes the joke reviews are the ones that get people talking.