Formed in Frederick, Maryland in 2025, Taartaros arrive fully formed at the bleakest convergence of black, death, and doom metal — a suffocating trifecta that trades no one style for another. Their sound is early and uncompromising, built on cold dissonance and funeral-pace heaviness laced with the caustic edge of death metal aggression.

Oakland's Thane have been cultivating their death/doom sound since 2015, drawing on the Bay Area's tradition of heavy, serious metal and steering it into the slower, more oppressive corridors of the genre hybrid. Their music shares the grinding patience of classic death-doom — long songs, cavernous production, and a heaviness that accumulates with deliberate intent.

Panama City, Florida's The Killing Toke have been building their sprawling black/death/doom hybrid since 2013, drawing from across the extreme metal spectrum without ever sounding scattered. Their name gestures toward the psychedelic, and indeed there's a haze running through their music that softens the brutality just enough to add disorientation to the dread. They're a singular entry in the Florida panhandle underground — a region better known for beach towns than for extreme metal.

Hutchinson, Kansas act The Space Between pursue the crushing middle ground between death metal's aggression and doom's suffocating weight, forging death-doom that moves at a glacial, deliberate pace. Formed in 2019, their sound is marked by low tunings and a relentless sense of dread.

Santa Cruz's The Sun Must Die channel death-doom's most oppressive impulses — slow, tar-thick riffs laid over cavernous death metal vocals — into a sound that feels as though the California coastline has been swallowed by darkness. Formed in 2015, the project leans into the nihilistic end of the doom-death spectrum.

Named after the cartilage at the base of the sternum, Denver's The Xiphoid Process have been crafting death/doom metal since 2010, pairing the crushing slow churn of doom with the morbid heaviness of death metal. Their Colorado roots lend a desolate, high-altitude atmosphere to their glacially paced material.

A Phoenix, Arizona death/doom act also formed in 2023, Thorn blend the suffocating weight of funeral-adjacent doom with death metal's aggression, conjuring an atmosphere as unforgiving as the desert heat.

Sacramento, California outfit formed in 2023 that takes a notably wide approach, weaving together death metal brutality, doom metal weight, and thrash momentum into a style that rewards listeners willing to follow them through the shifts in tempo and atmosphere.

Idaho Falls, Idaho's Throes of Ire have been crafting death/doom metal since 2013, drawing on the isolation of the high desert to inform a sound that moves between glacial, crushing slowness and moments of genuine menace.

San Diego's Tideless weave death-doom density with shoegaze texture, producing a sound that's simultaneously crushing and immersive — churning riffs suspended in reverberant haze. The band has been refining this submerged aesthetic since forming in 2016.

Baltimore's Tombtoker are one of the more eclectic acts in the city's thriving underground, folding stoner metal's hazy weight into a death-doom foundation since 2018 to produce something heavy enough to flatten walls and smoky enough to cloud vision.

Salem, Oregon's Total Darkness sink into the murk of death/doom metal, dragging riffs through oppressive tempos and graveyard atmospheres that suit the Pacific Northwest's brooding climate.

Triglathena is a death/doom metal band from Elizabeth, Colorado, formed in 2020, combining the mournful atmosphere of doom with the crushing heaviness of death metal in the tradition of the genre's most sepulchral acts.

San Diego, California death/doom metal band formed in 2023, merging the sepulchral atmosphere and mournful pacing of doom with the brutality of death metal in the style of the genre's earliest practitioners.

Turais is a Chicago, Illinois melodic death-doom band formed in 2023, named after the star in the constellation Carina and weaving together mournful melodies with the crushing weight of death metal.