Raleigh, North Carolina black metal project active since 2016, dealing in raw and uncompromising underground black metal that values atmosphere and menace over production polish. Their decade of activity has placed them firmly within the Southeast's growing underground black metal community.

Portland blackened sludge and doom metal outfit formed in 2014, fusing the corrosive atmosphere of black metal with the slow, crushing heaviness of sludge and doom in a combination that the Pacific Northwest underground has proven particularly fertile ground for cultivating. Their sound is dense, dissonant, and deliberately oppressive.

New Mexico's The Stone Ground are a solo atmospheric black metal project that layers cascading tremolo and ambient texture into expansive, landscape-evoking compositions since 2014. The project reflects the austere, wide-open character of the Southwest, filtered through black metal's introspective and raw-production tradition.

Portland's The Sun Came Up upon the Left have been operating at the intersection of black and death metal since 2008, melding blackened atmosphere with death metal's physical weight in a city that has long fostered unusual and boundary-pushing heavy music. The literary quality of their name suggests a project with a strong aesthetic identity beyond pure aggression.

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania's The Synics Awakening have evolved significantly since their 2015 formation, shifting from symphonic black metal's orchestral grandeur toward a harder-edged death and thrash metal sound over time. The band's battleground hometown seems fitting for a project built on sonic conflict and transformation.

Orlando's The Tome traffic in black/death metal with an occult sensibility, weaving blasphemous atmosphere into caustic riffwork since 2018. Their releases operate under the Bandcamp handle onelandoneking, hinting at a singular, totalizing vision within the extreme metal underground.

A New York black/death metal project formed in 2018, The True Goat channels raw, ritualistic aggression with an underground ethos that favors darkness over accessibility. Their approach leans into the primitive, confrontational side of extreme metal with little concession to polish.

Chicago's The Unshored weave black metal harshness, doom metal weight, and progressive metal architecture into a cohesive whole since forming in 2015. Their sound is searching and bleak, trading in long-form compositions that move through icy bleakness and crushing low-end in equal measure.

Detroit's The Watchers merge the corrosive weight of sludge with windswept atmospheric black metal, building bleak, layered soundscapes that reflect the industrial grimness of their city — a project that has been refining this collision of extremes since 2016.