Metal & Hard Rock News – January 16, 2026: Tours Stack Up, Festivals Flex, and the Big Dogs Play Long Games
The metal and hard rock world never really sleeps—it just shifts gears. This week proves it again. Legacy bands are celebrating milestones without watering themselves down, extreme metal is loading the van for another brutal lap, and festival season is already throwing elbows for your attention. There’s nostalgia here, sure, but it’s backed by volume, intent, and very real forward momentum.
Five Finger Death Punch are officially rolling out their 20th Anniversary tour, and no one should be surprised that they’re treating it like a victory lap rather than a farewell. Two decades in, FFDP remain one of modern metal’s most polarizing and commercially dominant forces, and this tour is built to remind people exactly how many hits they’ve stacked since the early 2000s. Big U.S. stops anchor the run, and the support lineup adds unexpected texture—Cody Jinks brings outlaw country grit, while Eva Under Fire continue their climb through hard rock’s upper tiers. If you want a refresher on where it all started, The Way of the Fist still hits as hard as ever.
Raven, meanwhile, are proving yet again that the NWOBHM spirit doesn’t age out—it sharpens. The band announced a spring run with Slackjaw, pairing classic British heavy metal roots with modern underground aggression. Raven have always thrived in live settings, and this tour looks aimed squarely at diehards who still value sweat, riffs, and proximity over spectacle. No gimmicks. No apologies. Just volume and history colliding with the present.
Speaking of collisions, The Black Dahlia Murder are back on U.S. roads with a lineup that reads like a deathcore and extreme metal pressure cooker. Joined by The Acacia Strain, Disembodied Tyrant, and additional rotating support, this tour feels intentionally unhinged. TBDM have spent years earning their reputation as one of the most reliable live acts in extreme metal, and pairing them with bands that thrive on chaos guarantees zero breathing room in the pit. This isn’t nostalgia death metal—it’s a reminder that the genre is still violent, modern, and very much alive. Their recent era deserves a revisit, especially Nightbringers.
Festival season is already heating up too, and BottleRock Napa Valley 2026 just threw its hat firmly into the rock and metal conversation. The newly revealed daily lineup includes Papa Roach, The Warning, Bush, and Joan Jett, all sharing space with headliners like Foo Fighters over Memorial Day Weekend. BottleRock has always leaned eclectic, but this year’s roster feels like a calculated reach toward heavier audiences without abandoning mainstream appeal. It’s not a pit-first festival, but it’s undeniably recognizing where rock momentum is coming from. Fans chasing heavier festival energy should also revisit our Inkcarceration coverage.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Behemoth are dragging the underground straight into the fire with the announcement of the Godless IV North American Tour. With Deicide, Immolation, and Rotting Christ in tow, this run is stacked with extreme metal lifers who don’t soften edges or chase trends. Behemoth’s recent output has leaned massive and confrontational, and this tour lineup reinforces their role as both torchbearers and gatekeepers. If you need a sonic reminder of their current form, Opvs Contra Natvram is mandatory listening.
Black Label Society are also loading the chamber with fresh album news and a sprawling tour plan that includes a long-awaited EU/UK run. Most notably, the band will hit Scotland for the first time in 11 years, a detail longtime fans won’t overlook. Zakk Wylde’s machine has always thrived on consistency—groove-heavy riffs, biker-metal swagger, and no-frills execution. New material paired with deep catalog cuts is a proven formula, and BLS know exactly who they’re playing for. Revisiting Mafia before the tour isn’t a bad idea.
Finally, the biggest long-game headline of the week: Metallica are reportedly in advanced talks for a massive 2027 residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas. If it happens, it would mark one of the most ambitious intersections of heavy metal and high-tech live production ever attempted. Metallica have never been content to tour like everyone else, and the Sphere represents a playground big enough to match their vision. This isn’t about reinvention—it’s about scale, control, and once again forcing the industry to follow their lead. If you want context on how they got here, …And Justice for All still tells the story.
Different lanes. Different volumes. Same result: metal and hard rock are entering 2026 loud, busy, and unapologetically active.
