Denver's Martriden draw from both death and black metal to create something tempestuous and technically ambitious, the high-altitude Mile High City providing an appropriate backdrop for their cold, expansive sound. Active since 2015, they've built a reputation in the Mountain West underground.

Savage Black / Death Metal from Laredo.

Blasphemous Black Metal out of Texas.

Ruthless Death Metal from Austin.

Maruta formed in Miami, Florida in 2005, blurring the boundaries between grindcore and technical death metal through a relentlessly dense compositional approach. The band released In Narcosis (2008) and Forward Into Regression (2011) on Willowtip Records to strong critical reception, with the latter scoring a nine out of ten from Decibel magazine, before a brief dissolution and reformation led to their third album Remain Dystopian (2015) on Relapse Records. Their precision within extreme speed and their refusal to simplify the technical elements of their writing set them apart within the Florida grindcore underground.

Cleveland's Mass Murder Phenomena have been grinding out death metal since 2011, carrying on the Rust Belt city's tradition of uncompromising extremity with blunt-force efficiency. No ornamentation, no apology — just relentless, focused brutality.

Massacre formed in Tampa, Florida in 1984, with original members including vocalist Kam Lee and guitarist Rick Rozz, both of whom had ties to the early lineups of Death. Lee is widely credited as one of the originators of the guttural death-growl vocal style that became the standard in death metal. The band's debut From Beyond (1991) on Earache Records arrived as a landmark of the Florida death metal scene, and after decades of hiatuses and lineup shifts, they returned with a renewed version of the band releasing Back from Beyond (2014), Resurgence (2021), and Necrolution (2024).

Warren, Michigan's Masses in Atrophy blend death metal brutality with deathcore's structural heaviness into something that hits with the weight of the Rust Belt's industrial decay. Since 2019 they've been one of Metro Detroit's more punishing contributions to the extreme underground.

Columbus' Massive Gun arrived in 2023 with a death metal and deathcore sound that's as direct as their name suggests — blunt, heavy, and built around maximum impact. Ohio's metal scene has a long tradition of producing bands with no interest in subtlety.