Cronos, Cooper, and the Long Shadow of Metal's Old Guard: What a Heavy Week of News Means for Pennsylvania
Some weeks in metal news hit like a sucker punch, and this was one of them. Between the death of a genre founder, a 78-year-old shock-rock legend refusing to slow down, and a Marshall-stack parade of guitar heroes reminding everyone why riffs matter, it's been a reflective few days for anyone who cares about where heavy music came from — and where it's headed next, including right here in Pennsylvania.
Losing Cronos: A Founding Father's Shadow Over PA's Black Metal Underground
The news that Conrad "Cronos" Lant, bassist and vocalist of Venom, has died at 63 landed hard across every corner of the extreme metal world. Venom didn't just make records — they gave the genre its name, its aesthetic, and arguably its entire attitude. Without Cronos barking over distorted bass and buzzsaw riffs in the early '80s, there's a real argument that black metal, as both a sound and a subculture, doesn't exist in the form we know it.
That lineage matters here. Pennsylvania's black metal underground is one of the most quietly productive corners of the state's scene, from the atmospheric density of Tholin to the raw aggression of Basilysk and the ritualistic grimness of Sinnihte and Verminform. None of these bands exist in a vacuum — they're all, whether directly or through several generations of influence, standing on ground Venom cleared forty-plus years ago. Fittingly, Immortal's newly announced "Complete Discography 1992-2023" box set, a 13-LP monument to one of black metal's most influential catalogs, drops at almost the exact moment the genre is mourning one of its architects. If you're digging into that box set this month, it's worth cueing up some of Pennsylvania's own black metal output in the same sitting — the throughline from Newcastle to the Pennsylvania backwoods is shorter than you'd think.
AC/DC Shakes Lincoln Financial Field — And Reminds PA What Arena Metal Built
Meanwhile, down in Philadelphia, AC/DC tore through Lincoln Financial Field on their 2026 "Power Up" tour with a setlist stacked front to back with the hits — "Back In Black," "Thunderstruck," "Highway To Hell," the works. Fan-filmed footage from the show has been circulating all week, and it's a good reminder that massive, riff-driven rock spectacle still fills stadiums in this state better than almost anywhere else.
Pennsylvania has quietly exported some of the biggest names in commercial hard rock and metal over the decades, and that arena-sized ambition didn't come from nowhere. Greensburg's own Halestorm has carried that stadium-rock torch onto some of the biggest stages in the world, and Cinderella guitarist Tom Keifer remains a living link back to the glam-and-blues-soaked hard rock that once made Pennsylvania a genuine breeding ground for this stuff. Watching AC/DC still sell out an NFL stadium on pure riffs and showmanship is a good reminder that the stadium-rock lineage our state helped build is alive and well — and that there's no shame in a band wanting to get massive.
Alice Cooper Won't Retire — And Neither Will PA's Doom and Thrash Veterans
In a new interview, Alice Cooper, 78, once again shut down retirement talk, essentially saying there's no better job in the world than being Alice Cooper. It's a sentiment that resonates loudly in a state full of bands who've been grinding for decades without much national fanfare but refuse to hang it up.
"Of course, Alice is a fictitious character... I can't think of a better job."
That kind of lifer mentality is baked into Pennsylvania's heavy metal DNA. Sinister Realm has been flying the doom metal flag out of this state since the 1980s, and Pittsburgh's own Dream Death remains one of the most criminally underrated doom/thrash hybrids this region has produced — both bands proof that longevity in this scene isn't about chasing trends, it's about stubbornly refusing to quit. If Cooper's 78 and still doing this because he genuinely loves it, there's no excuse for anyone in the Pennsylvania metal scene to think they've aged out of relevance.
Guitar Heroics: Malmsteen, Exhorder, and the Case for PA's Heavy Metal Underground
Yngwie Malmsteen dropped a new instrumental video, "Beyond Zeta Reticuli," ahead of his November album "Hell Or High Water," and it's a reminder of just how much of metal's foundation was built on pure technical guitar worship. Elsewhere, Exhorder's Kyle Thomas confirmed the thrash and groove trailblazers have serious label interest circling for a follow-up to 2024's "Defectum Omnium" — proof that even veteran thrash acts from the genre's first wave are still very much in demand.
Pennsylvania's thrash scene deserves that same kind of attention. Lancaster's Citadel and the crossover thrash attack of Coffin Dust are carrying that riff-first, no-nonsense tradition forward, while on the more guitar-worship side of things, this is exactly the kind of moment that should put a spotlight on the state's heavy metal and NWOTHM underground — a genre pocket that honestly doesn't get enough ink. Heavy metal purists in this state have a real standard-bearer in Wizard, a band built on the kind of unpretentious, riff-forward songwriting that connects directly back to the Malmsteens and Exhorders of the world — guitar-driven, no gimmicks, just steel and volume. Pair that with the retro-leaning swagger of 313 and the instrumental spectacle of Galactic Empire, and you've got a legitimate case that Pennsylvania's classic/NWOTHM heavy metal pocket is one of the most underrated corners of the Pennsylvania metal scene right now. If you're compiling any kind of list of the best metal bands flying under the radar in this state, start there.
Tom Morello's Free Livestream and PA's Politically-Charged Underground
On the punk and protest-rock side of things, Tom Morello announced his "Power To The People" festival — featuring Bruce Springsteen, Foo Fighters, Dave Matthews, and Public Enemy among others — will be livestreamed for free. It's a lineup built around music with something to say, and that spirit isn't foreign to Pennsylvania's own hardcore and punk underground.
Scranton's The Menzingers have built a career on exactly that kind of lived-in, working-class punk songwriting, while the thrash-and-hardcore hybrid of No Gods keeps that confrontational energy running through the state's heavier circuit. Pennsylvania has never lacked bands willing to put a message behind the noise — Morello's free livestream is as good an excuse as any to remember that connection runs deep here, from the Rust Belt to Philly row houses.
Looking Ahead: 2026 and the Next Wave
Between retrospective box sets, legacy musicians refusing to slow down, and younger acts like Comeback Kid, Twiztid, and Distant dropping new videos this week, the broader metal landscape feels caught between honoring its past and figuring out what comes next. That tension is exactly what makes tracking new metal bands 2026 coming out of Pennsylvania so worthwhile — this state has never been shy about producing bands that split the difference between tradition and forward motion, whether that's death metal, thrash, doom, or straightforward heavy metal.
If this week of national headlines proves anything, it's that the old guard — Venom, Alice Cooper, Malmsteen, Exhorder, AC/DC — built the blueprint that Pennsylvania bands are still drawing from today, whether they realize it or not. Keep tabs on who's playing next by checking out our upcoming shows listings, and if your band belongs in this conversation, don't wait around — submit your band and get on our radar.