Joliet, Illinois death metal unit Cryptum deal in dense, suffocating riffs and guttural vocals rooted in the Midwest underground. Their sound channels the brutal no-frills tradition of Chicago-area death metal.

Columbus, Ohio outfit Cthultists blend the brutality of death metal with the sludgy weight of post-hardcore influences, creating dense, suffocating music soaked in occult atmosphere. Their name signals their dedication to the dark and abyssal end of the genre.

Dallas, Texas death metal act Ctrl+Alt+Delete bring technical aggression and a sardonic edge to the Lone Star underground. Their riff-heavy approach is direct and punishing, with a nod to classic Texas metal ferocity.

San Diego, California black/death metal outfit Cuernos del Chivo combine raw, punishing black metal with the brutal low-end of death metal, forging a relentless and aggressive sound. Their Spanish name — "horns of the goat" — signals their commitment to old-school darkness.

Nashville, Tennessee deathcore outfit Cult Breather bring punishing breakdowns and brutal death metal riffing to the Southern underground. Their sound is dense, technical, and relentlessly heavy.

New York City's Cult Dialect carves out a gritty crossroads between death metal, hardcore, and thrash, channeling the borough's street-level aggression into a blunt, punishing hybrid sound. Their approach owes as much to the NYHC tradition of blunt-force riffing as it does to the death and thrash scenes that grew up alongside it.

San Jose's Cult Graves traffick in barbaric black/death metal that draws equally from old Deicide's surgical brutality and Proclamation's war-metal chaos. Formed in 2018 and signed to Transylvanian Recordings, their 2020 full-length Strange Customs established them as one of the Bay Area underground's most uncompromising voices.

Baltimore's Cult of Leviathan blend progressive ambition into a death/doom core, sprawling across tempos and textures without losing the suffocating weight that defines the genre. The Maryland band operates as an independent act, favoring labyrinthine song structures that reward patient listeners.

Galesburg, Illinois's Cult of Mutants collapse death metal, grindcore, sludge, and experimental noise into a deliberately deformed mass with little regard for genre tidiness. The result is exactly what the name suggests — a mutated, grotesque thing that thrives in the margins of extreme music.

Kansas City's Cult of Orion occupy the crushing space where death metal, doom, and sludge converge, leaning into slow, monstrous riffs weighted with dread. The Missouri band works in the tradition of death/doom that prizes atmosphere and oppressive heaviness over technical display.

Seattle's Cult of Yog conjure Lovecraftian dread through venomous, bestial black/death metal rooted in the Pacific Northwest's tradition of cavernous, atmospheric extremity. Their self-titled 2021 EP announced a band channeling the darkness of Cascadia into riff-heavy, cosmically hostile metal.

York, Pennsylvania husband-and-wife duo Cultic fuse early death/doom, first-wave black metal, and punk into what they call dungeon doom — a battle-scarred sound decorated with dark fantasy themes, dungeon synth interludes, and martial industrial textures. Released via Eleventh Key Records, their 2025 album Lore is their most fully realized entry into this singular aesthetic.

Columbus, Ohio's Cultists work within the death/doom tradition, building heavy, suffocating compositions that balance the slow crawl of classic doom with the brutality of death metal. The Ohio band operates independently, adding to a Columbus extreme metal scene that has produced some of the most punishing underground acts in the Midwest.

New Orleans's Cultum Nocte apply the Crescent City's longstanding tradition of extreme, ritualistic metal to a black/death framework, producing music that carries the oppressive humidity and occult atmosphere of their surroundings. The Louisiana band operates as part of a local underground that has always thrived at metal's most uncompromising edges.

San Antonio technical death metal/deathcore. Precision brutality.