Perrysburg, Ohio's Winter Heart have been developing atmospheric black metal since 2013, embracing the genre's most expansive, ambient-leaning qualities to craft music that is less about shock and more about immersion. The flat, grey landscapes of northwest Ohio make for a fitting backdrop for this kind of cold, contemplative black metal.

Scorching Atmospheric Black Metal out of Texas.

Olympia, Washington's Wolves in the Throne Room are one of the defining acts in American atmospheric black metal, having shaped what the genre sounds like on this side of the Atlantic since forming in 2007. Their music fuses the transcendence of second-wave black metal with an ecological mysticism rooted in the forests and mountains of the Pacific Northwest. Albums like Diadem of 12 Stars and Two Hunters established them as artists whose ambition consistently outstrips genre convention.

Canton, Massachusetts's Woods pursue atmospheric black metal with the solitary, introspective quality the genre does best when stripped of spectacle. Formed in 2015, their music tends toward the vast and immersive — tremolo-drenched passages that blur the line between aggression and ambience, built for long listening in the dark. They're part of a strong New England tradition of atmospheric black metal that takes influence from the region's bleak winters and isolated wooded landscapes.

Eugene, Oregon's Wroughting Woods channel the dense forests and grey skies of the Pacific Northwest into atmospheric black metal that bleeds into dark ambient territory, active since 2019. The band's sound is as much about texture and mood as it is riffs — long, drifting passages that reward full-album immersion.