Mansfield, Connecticut death metal project. The funereal name captures the essence of extreme music from rural northeastern Connecticut.

South Bend, Indiana black/death metal project. The corvid-themed name — a 'murder' by another word — channels dark omens from the home of Notre Dame.

Seattle death metal and deathcore project. The legal defense term repurposed as a promise of emotional violence from the Pacific Northwest.

Sacramento, California death metal project whose Latin name — meaning 'from the divine' — inverts the sacred through extreme music.

Alabama death metal project whose lengthy name targets religious charlatanism in the Bible Belt. The image of a well-dressed deceiver cuts deep in the Deep South.

Seattle death metal project. The oxymoronic name — a plague that thrives — captures death metal's paradox of creating beauty from destruction.

Aston, Pennsylvania death metal project. The archaic 'ov' spelling signals black metal influence, while the faint light of death promises a glimpse into the void.

Junction City, Kansas death metal and deathcore project. The name's double meaning — both a summons from the grave and a serious vocation — adds depth to heartland extremity.

A Hill to Die Upon is a death metal band from the Monmouth/Galesburg area of Illinois, active since 2009 with three releases spanning 30 tracks. The band plays epic, ambitious death metal with literary and mythological themes, as evidenced by tracks like "Prometheus Rebound" and "Of Fire And Division." Their substantial catalog reflects a band committed to expanding the intellectual scope of extreme metal.

San Jose, California death metal project. The unsettling name suggests something inhuman wearing flesh as disguise — body horror from Silicon Valley.

A la Carte is a death metal band from Lima, Ohio, serving up gore-themed brutality with a culinary twist since 2020. Track titles like "Soup Dejour," "Aborted Eggs Benedict," and "Hymen Drizzled Hotcakes" combine food service vocabulary with graphic anatomical horror. Across two releases and 15 tracks, the band has carved out a uniquely nauseating niche in Ohio's death metal scene.

A Life Less Alive is a death metal project that originated in Irvine, California before relocating to Avon Lake, Ohio. The cross-country trajectory reflects the transient nature of underground metal projects, carrying West Coast technicality to the Midwest. Limited releases suggest a project still finding its footing between coasts.

Nashville, Tennessee death metal project delivering funeral rites fueled by contempt. Music City extremity far from the country music strip.

A Man Named Onigumo is an extraordinarily prolific death metal and progressive metal project from Springfield, Missouri, amassing nine releases and 63 tracks since 2019. Named after the bandit from the anime Inuyasha, the project blends technical death metal with progressive structures and anime-inspired narrative ambition. Tracks like "Cerebellum Imprisoned" and "Endless Leukotomy" reveal a fascination with neurological horror and surgical precision.

Tampa/Tucson black metal and death metal project spanning Florida and Arizona. The name evokes solstice rituals in two of America's hottest cities — seeking cold in the desert and the tropics.