Down's 'Volume V' Teaser Lands as Touring Circuits Lock In Nevertel, Entheos, and a New Wave of Metalcore Comebacks
There's a particular kind of satisfaction in watching the genre's elder statesmen drop new material in the same news cycle that the next generation locks in tour routing. That's exactly where the US metal scene sits this week — Down premiering a video for a song called "The Myth," Walls of Jericho and Darkest Hour both dusting off their comeback muscles, and the touring machine for 2026 and 2027 quietly assembling itself band by band, support slot by support slot. None of it is flashy in isolation. All of it matters.
Down's "The Myth" and the Weight of Waiting Nearly Two Decades
New Orleans sludge royalty DOWN has shared the MetalDave Media-directed video for "The Myth," the latest cut from Volume V, out November 20 via Nuclear Blast. This is the band's first album in nearly twenty years, which is the kind of gap that would sink most projects but only seems to add gravity to a band built on Phil Anselmo's gothic drawl and the molasses-thick riffing that's defined Crescent City sludge since the early '90s. "The Myth" doesn't sound like a band chasing trends — it sounds like a band that never needed to.
It's worth noting how much of the current US sludge and death-doom landscape still traces its DNA back to that same New Orleans well. Bands like Eyehategod share literal membership history with Down, and the stoner-doom lineage running through acts like Cough owes plenty to that same tar-pit tempo. On the newer end of the spectrum, regional sludge outfits like Thorn and Serac are carrying that same low-and-slow philosophy forward, proof that the sludge and death-doom underground in this country isn't a nostalgia act — it's a living tradition with new rooms to fill.
Walls of Jericho and Darkest Hour Both Swing Back Into View
Metalcore's mid-2000s class is having a moment of its own. Walls of Jericho dropped the music video for "True Til' Death," the first taste of their first new album in a decade, due out this November. The track leans hard into the breakdown-heavy, chant-along urgency that made the band a festival staple, and the video reads like a statement of intent rather than a victory lap.
Darkest Hour, meanwhile, released the video for "Warrior," which — per the band's own nod — borrows a wink from LL Cool J's "Mama Said Knock You Out." It's a playful touch from a band whose melodic death metal/metalcore hybrid has always balanced technicality with pure aggression. Both releases are a reminder that the mid-2000s American metalcore boom wasn't a flash in the pan; the bands that survived it are still writing some of their most focused material.
The 2026–2027 Touring Map Is Filling In Fast
If you're tracking metal bands touring 2026 and beyond, this week gave us two significant data points. FROM ASHES TO NEW announced their spring 2027 "Reflections" tour, kicking off March 12 and running through April 18, with support from Nevertel, Dark Divine, and Hollow Pact. The band is donating a dollar from every ticket sold to Musicians On Call, which is a nice bit of substance behind the routing announcement. Nevertel's blend of metalcore, nu-metal, and rap-rock makes them a logical complement to From Ashes To New's own genre-blending approach, and a support slot of this size is exactly the kind of visibility that pushes a regional act into the national conversation.
Separately, TesseracT revealed a 2027 North American tour commencing in early January, bringing along Entheos and Sunborn. Entheos's progressive death metal and deathcore pedigree is a sharp pairing with TesseracT's djent-adjacent atmospherics — two bands operating in overlapping but distinct technical spaces, which tends to make for the kind of tour that actually teaches a crowd something about where the genre is headed. For fans trying to plan their 2026 and 2027 calendars around new metal bands worth catching live, both of these routings are worth circling now. Check upcoming shows as dates continue to roll in regionally.
Arch Enemy Powers Through in Tempe
Touring is rarely as clean as the press release makes it look, and Arch Enemy got a reminder of that in Arizona. Drummer Daniel Erlandsson was too ill to perform at the band's October 6 show at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe, and the band turned to Hank Lin of Throwninto Exile — the support act on the "Wrath Across North America 2026" trek — to fill in on short notice. It's the kind of moment that separates road-tested professionals from the pack: no cancellation, no refund drama, just a support-band drummer stepping into one of melodic death metal's most demanding drum chairs with essentially no rehearsal. Arch Enemy shared the footage themselves, and it's a genuinely fun watch if you want to see what grace under pressure looks like in a metal context.
Avrak: A Grubby New Project Worth Your Attention
Outside the US proper but very much relevant to anyone following the Darkthrone lineage, AVRAK's debut album has landed, built around Ted "Nocturno Culto" Skjellum and guitarist/vocalist Anders Hegna, with a former Sarke member rounding out the lineup. Early word on the record is that it's thunderous and unpolished in exactly the right way — the kind of record that reminds you why raw black metal, even when it's coming from genre veterans rather than upstarts, still has teeth. It's a useful contrast point for the raw black metal underground here in the States, where plenty of regional acts are mining similar grime without the name recognition. If you're building out a 2026 listening list and want something that doesn't sound like it was mixed for streaming algorithms, this is a strong candidate.
NWOTHM and Power Metal Keep Building Momentum
While the big headlines this cycle skew toward sludge and metalcore, it's worth flagging that the New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal continues to be one of the most active — and most underserved in coverage — corners of the US scene. Bands like Cross, working the heavy metal/power metal/progressive metal intersection, and Thunder, mining a similarly traditional power metal and heavy metal sound, represent exactly the kind of band that gets overlooked in a news cycle dominated by legacy reunions and arena tours. Pair that with acts like Audrey Horne working the NWOTHM/stoner intersection, and you've got a genuine undercurrent worth paying attention to if you care about where the best metal bands of the next decade are actually coming from rather than just which legacy act is reissuing a deluxe edition this month.
Quick Hits From the Wider Scene
A handful of smaller items rounded out the week. Parkway Drive announced "Home — Live at the Sydney Opera House," the symphonic live document of their June 2025 orchestral performance, due December 4 — proof that metal-meets-orchestra remains a format that can genuinely elevate a band's catalog rather than just padding it out. Type O Negative guitarist Kenny Hickey confirmed the long-rumored live album is nearly finished editing, with an early 2027 release targeted — welcome news for anyone who still ranks the band's catalog among the best metal albums of all time. Cannibal Corpse drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz and longtime art collaborator Vince Locke will host a fan Q&A at Florida's Spooky Empire horror convention this Halloween weekend, tying into the band's ongoing nitro cold brew collaboration. Bush is marking thirty years of "Razorblade Suitcase" with a December deluxe edition loaded with rarities, a reminder that the mid-'90s alt-metal crossover still has a built-in audience. And Enter Shikari, following their announced indefinite hiatus, surprise-released the "Higher Ground" b-side — a low-key send-off for a band that spent two decades refusing to sit still.
Between legacy sludge finally delivering new material, metalcore road dogs lining up support slots for 2026 and 2027, and the traditional heavy metal underground quietly building its own audience, this is a scene that's simultaneously honoring its past and actively restocking its future. If your band belongs in that conversation, submit your band and get on the radar.
