Ripping Death Metal / Hardcore from Dallas.

Roanoke, Virginia act Dysphagic has operated since 2009 at the crossroads of technical death metal and deathcore, combining the rhythmic churn and breakdowns of the latter with the surgical riffing complexity of the former. Their long-running activity in the Virginia underground speaks to a consistent dedication to the brutal and technical end of extreme metal.

East Chicago, Indiana death metal outfit active since 2010, Dysphoria draws from the region's industrial character to fuel a punishing and direct brand of death metal that values heaviness over ornamentation. Their location in the shadow of the Chicago metro places them within the broader Great Lakes extreme metal community.

Lubbock, Texas-based technical death metal and grindcore outfit active since 2011, Dystrophic merges the surgical precision and rhythmic complexity of tech-death with the ferocious brevity of grindcore. Their West Texas origins put them squarely in an unlikely locale for such extreme and technical material.

New Brunswick, New Jersey band formed in 2010, Dystrophy began in progressive and thrash territory before evolving into technical death metal — a trajectory common to bands that outgrow speed in favor of precision and density. Their New Jersey location ties them to a robust mid-Atlantic extreme metal community.