Off the top of my head: If you're using After Effects you could probably start by investigating use of the Shatter effect, maybe in combination with the CC Ball Action.
You might could also get some interesting cracking by using a solid/precomp with Advanced Lightning as a Track Matte for the band layer. You could also use a time-staggered duplicate of the lightning layer as a displacement map, so the band starts to warp a little bit before cracking open.
Just random thoughts. I hope you find them useful!
Patrick Algermissen
Poem Pictures, Inc.
www.PoemFilms.com
