Formed in Illinois in 2024, H.O.O.D. is a fresh entry into the American black metal underground, channeling icy, lo-fi hostility with a stripped-down ferocity characteristic of the genre's most uncompromising practitioners.

Named after a demon of transformation, Long Island's Haagenti began with melodic death metal roots before evolving into a heavier, more unrelenting death metal sound over their decade-plus existence. Their trajectory mirrors the demonic namesake — a gradual, deliberate shift into something darker.

Taking their name from the cold sea fog that rolls in off the North Sea, Haar is a U.S. black metal project that conjures a similarly bleak and suffocating atmosphere. Active since 2010, they trade in the kind of desolate, windswept darkness that recalls the genre's Scandinavian origins.

Marietta, Georgia's Haborym traffics in the raw intersection of black and death metal, bearing the name of a duke of hell and emerging in 2024 with a fittingly malevolent sound. Expect no mercy and no polish.

Atlanta's Hackenschmied is a freshly minted raw black metal project, born in 2025 and committed to the genre's most primitive and abrasive aesthetic. Little studio gloss, maximum sonic hostility.

Columbus, Ohio's Hadak Ura is one of the more unorthodox acts to emerge from the Midwest's extreme metal scene — a grinding black metal project that fuses the frozen hatred of black metal with the frenetic velocity of grindcore since 2015.

Milwaukee's Hadak Ura operates in the atmospheric and ambient reaches of black metal, filling the space between songs with texture and dread. Since 2015, they've built a sound more interested in suffocating atmosphere than outright aggression.

Seattle's Hades Bellum brings a merciless black/death metal hybrid to the Pacific Northwest underground, with a name that invokes the god of the underworld alongside the Latin word for war. Founded in 2024, they're one of the newer and more aggressive acts to emerge from the city's extreme scene.

San Diego's Hadoth deals in atmospheric black metal that prioritizes enveloping darkness over sheer violence — sweeping, textured, and deliberately cold. Formed in 2024, they're a recent addition to Southern California's contemplative black metal scene.

Milwaukee's Haelm is one of the longer-running black metal acts in Wisconsin, active since 2008 and a fixture of the region's underground. Their longevity alone speaks to a dedication to the form that outlasts most contemporaries.

Out of Harrisonburg, Virginia, Haetriarchy carves out a black/death metal sound in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley since 2019 — one of the more geographically isolated extreme metal acts in the mid-Atlantic region, which perhaps explains the ferocity.

Named after the rune representing hail and disruption, Hagalaz is a black metal project that fuses raw aggression with punk's irreverence, active since 2017. Their runic namesake suggests the chaotic and destructive intent baked into their music.

Chicago's Haggathorn emerged in 2019 as part of the city's active black metal underground, bringing the thorny, aggressive character their name implies to a scene more often associated with death metal. Cold, atmospheric, and unrelenting.

Salt Lake City's Hagraven channels the rowdy spirit of black 'n' roll — black metal's blackened edge colliding with hard rock swagger — since their 2023 formation. Against Utah's austere backdrop, they're a wild anomaly.

Out of Greenwood Lake, New York, Hail Batlord emerged in 2022 with a stripped-down, ferocious approach to black metal. Unadorned and unapologetic, they lean into the raw primitiveness the genre was built on.