Chicago death metal project whose 2024 single Brad the Impaler puts a comedic spin on Vlad the Impaler's legacy. A playful title masking genuine heaviness from the city's deep extreme music well.

Boston death metal outfit with three releases since 2019, including the holiday-themed Black Christmas EP and the emotionally raw Grief. The remastered 2024 edition of the latter suggests a band committed to getting their sonic vision exactly right.

Boston crossover thrash project from the Massachusetts underground.

Columbus death metal project from the Ohio underground.

Boston death metal project from the Massachusetts underground.

San Francisco death metal project from the California underground.

Death Metal project from the American underground.

Tampa progressive metal outfit crafting ambitious compositions since 2015. Planet Storm and the earlier Terms of the Saw Doctor EP demonstrate a band that uses prog's expansive toolkit while staying rooted in Florida's heavy music DNA.

Watertown, Massachusetts black metal project whose 2013 EP Bedroom Songs strips the genre to its most intimate and vulnerable. The ellipsis in the name and the domestic setting of the title suggest a deeply personal approach to extreme music.

Gary death metal project from the Indiana underground.

Atlantic City, New Jersey death metal act whose 2011 debut Consecrate brings heaviness to the Jersey Shore. Death metal forged in the shadow of crumbling boardwalks and faded casino glamour.

Green Bay thrash metal project from the Wisconsin underground.

Danville, California deathcore and grindcore pioneers with roots stretching back to 1998. Six releases across a decade make them one of the earliest American deathcore acts, predating the genre's mainstream breakthrough from the East Bay suburbs.

Houston death metal project exploring temporal themes since 2023. Their releases — titled with timestamps like 81:03 and 23:03 — suggest a conceptual framework beneath the brutality, freezing the tropical Houston heat into something glacial and unforgiving.

Raleigh/Cary, North Carolina death metal and progressive project named after the second ring of the ninth circle of Hell in Dante's Inferno. Their 2018 debut Horrors channels literary horror through technically accomplished extreme metal from the Research Triangle.