Billy Corgan Refuses to Cancel Manson, Slash Readies New Conspirators LP, and California's Heavy Metal Underground Keeps Grinding
Loyalty is a dirty word in 2026, but Billy Corgan doesn't seem to care who's keeping score. This week's biggest ripple through the California rock conversation didn't come from a stadium announcement or a festival poster — it came from a New York Times interview where the Smashing Pumpkins frontman doubled down on his friendship with industrial rock provocateur Marilyn Manson, one of the most controversial and influential figures to ever come out of the Los Angeles scene.
Corgan Draws a Line in the Sand for Manson
Corgan didn't equivocate. Asked directly about standing by Manson despite years of allegations and backlash, he put it plainly:
"I don't want the world to tell me who my friends are."
It's a loaded statement to make in public, and it's already splitting the comment sections. But it's also a reminder of just how deeply Manson is woven into the fabric of California's alternative and industrial metal history — the shock-rock theatrics, the Trent Reznor production pedigree, the decades of controversy that have made him either a pariah or a martyr depending on who you ask. Love him or loathe him, Manson's gravitational pull on the LA scene hasn't faded, and Corgan's comments guarantee the conversation keeps going.
Meanwhile, Manson's own output is still generating ink. MetalSucks' satirical "Disgruntled Dad" column took a characteristically unhinged swing at "One Assassination Under God – Chapter 2," the kind of over-the-top, tongue-in-cheek dad-rage review that's become its own genre of metal content. Satire aside, the fact that Manson's new material is still provoking this much discourse — positive, negative, or just plain confused — says something about his staying power in a scene that loves to declare things "over" long before they actually are.
Slash Gets Metaphorical With 'Flying Blind'
On a lighter note, Los Angeles guitar icon Slash is gearing up for the fifth studio album from Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators. Speaking with radio host LA Lloyd, Slash explained the thinking behind the new record's title:
"Flying Blind" is "a great metaphor" for where the band finds itself heading into this new chapter.
The album lands February 26, 2027 via Gibson Records, and if the title is any indication, Slash and company are embracing a little uncertainty after a career built on hard rock muscle memory. It's a good excuse to revisit the Guns N' Roses lineage that put Slash on the map in the first place — a reminder that California's hard rock and heavy metal bloodline runs all the way from the Sunset Strip to whatever stage the Conspirators are playing in 2027. Expect this one to be a centerpiece of the metal bands touring 2026 and 2027 conversation once dates start rolling out.
Orgy's Click Track Catastrophe
Not every piece of California-adjacent news this week was so polished. Industrial rock veterans Orgy reportedly suffered a click track malfunction during their set at Sick New World in Texas, giving the crowd an unintentional taste of the in-ear monitor experience most fans never hear. It's a small, almost funny story, but it's also a good reminder of how fragile the tech-heavy, programmed-element performances common to industrial and nu-metal acts can be live. Orgy came up through the same late-90s LA scene that shaped so much of what Marilyn Manson and Puscifer would later build on — synth-driven, theatrical, unpredictable even on a good night. Glitches happen. The genre was basically built on controlled chaos to begin with.
The Digital Ozzy Debate Rolls On
Jack Osbourne also weighed in this week on the ongoing conversation around a digital, AI-assisted version of his father, clarifying that whatever form "Digital Ozzy" eventually takes, it won't be "selling cell phones." It's a small comment, but it speaks to a much bigger anxiety running through the entire metal world right now — how do legacy acts and their families protect an artist's legacy in an era where AI likenesses are becoming commercially viable? Ozzy's imprint on California metal culture, from his Black Sabbath years to his decades living and recording in the Los Angeles area, makes this one worth watching closely as it develops.
California's Heavy Metal Underground Still Doesn't Get Enough Credit
While the headlines chase Manson, Slash, and System of a Down's ever-expanding Rose Bowl residency, there's a quieter story happening in practice spaces and small clubs across the state: California's new wave of traditional heavy metal bands are putting in the work, and most of the metal press still isn't paying attention.
This is a genre with deep California roots. Long before anyone used the term NWOTHM, Los Angeles power metal veterans Lizzy Borden were already proving the state could do theatrical, riff-driven heavy metal as well as anywhere in Europe. That lineage is still alive in bands like Deepwell and Skitz, who are carrying the torch of straightforward, hook-heavy heavy metal songwriting into a scene currently obsessed with deathcore breakdowns and blackened everything. There's also Kantation, blending heavy metal and power metal influences in a way that nods directly back to the 80s metal bands that built the genre's DNA in the first place, and Goathead, who split the difference between black metal grit, groove metal weight, and old-school thrash aggression.
If you're the kind of fan who spends your spare time arguing about the best metal albums of all time or debating which riffs deserve a spot on any list of the best heavy metal songs ever written, these are exactly the bands worth digging into right now. California's traditional metal underground doesn't get the same column inches as the arena-filling legacy acts, but it's where a lot of the genre's most interesting ideas are actually happening in real time.
Crossover and Alt-Metal Corners Worth Watching
Elsewhere in the state's wildly diverse scene, crossover thrash and grind outfit Pus continues to represent California's long history of unapologetically aggressive, genre-blending extremity, while alternative rock and metalcore act Nerv is building out the kind of hook-forward, riff-conscious sound that's found a real audience as metalcore keeps absorbing influences from classic hard rock. Both acts are worth tracking if you're looking for new metal bands 2026 has to offer that aren't just algorithm-driven TikTok rock.
The Bigger Picture
Between Corgan's unwavering loyalty to Manson, Slash preparing another chapter with the Conspirators, and Orgy proving that even industrial rock veterans aren't immune to a bad night of tech, this week's news cycle is a good snapshot of how wide California's metal scene actually is — stadium-sized legacy acts, controversial industrial survivors, and a heavy metal underground that's still writing some of the best riffs nobody's talking about yet.
If you're hunting for metal concerts in Los Angeles or anywhere else in the state this season, don't just chase the big names. Check the upcoming shows page for the smaller bills where California's next generation of heavy metal, thrash, and crossover bands are cutting their teeth. And if you're in one of those bands and you're not seeing yourselves covered yet, submit your band — California's scene is too big and too strange to leave anyone out.
