Chicago solo project by Samu Rahn of Embittered, Wintering, and The Living Fields, weaving black metal and neofolk into elegiac, multi-genre compositions.

California solo project by Agravain that evolved from power/melodic death metal into black, pagan, and folk metal territory, drawing on themes of despair, fantasy, and ancient legend before disbanding around 2010.

Cathar is a California black metal project rooted in the raw, minimalist tradition — sparse arrangements, cold tremolo riffing, and a misanthropic atmosphere informed by orthodox underground aesthetics. The Palmdale origins contribute a desolate, high-desert bleakness to the music.

Charakter is a black and folk metal band from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, blending the aggression of black metal with folk metal elements in a region with a sparse extreme metal presence. The project is an independent effort drawing on both Scandinavian folk metal traditions and raw black metal aesthetics.

Lancaster, Pennsylvania folk/heavy metal band Cimmerian draw on ancient mythology and pagan tradition to craft melodic, epic metal with a raw folk undercurrent. Their sound evokes the savage world of the Hyborian Age that inspired their name.

Cincinnati, Ohio crust-punk and death metal band Coelacanth have been grinding out ferocious, politically charged metal since the early 1990s, earning a cult following in the American underground. Their sound fuses the rawness of crust with the brutality of early death metal.

Petaluma's Cormorant blend black and death metal with folk textures and progressive ambition across sweeping, literary-minded albums. They are one of the most ambitious DIY metal acts in the American underground.

Seattle black and symphonic metal band that layers orchestral grandeur over black metal's icy ferocity. Their sound is cinematic in scope, drawing on the gloom and grandeur of the Pacific Northwest.

Connecticut post-black metal project weaving folk elements into a harrowing atmospheric framework. Crawl Below balances earthy melodicism against the desolate bleakness of the black metal tradition.

Northern California black/folk metal act Crone weave pagan atmosphere and acoustic textures into their blasting framework, drawing on nature worship and the wilder traditions of folk-infused extreme metal.

Michigan's Crown of Asteria is a primarily solo atmospheric black metal project rooted in folk and nature-worship themes, built on layered, pagan-influenced compositions that evoke the forests and lakes of the Great Lakes region. Their music is immersive and reverent, steeped in earth-bound spirituality.

Fayetteville, Georgia's Crown of Sorrow weaves folk and symphonic elements into epic metal compositions, building cinematic soundscapes that feel as large as the genre's theatrical tradition demands. Grand in scope and emotionally sweeping, they bring an orchestral ambition to the Southern metal underground.

Solo black metal project from Clarksville, Tennessee founded in 2007 under the name Frostbitten Sabbath before settling on Cryptic Frost and later evolving into Stamfar. The project weaves folk and ambient textures into a raw black metal frame, with themes of isolation, vampyrism, and witchcraft.

Boston, Massachusetts Celtic folk metal act Cu Dubh weave traditional Irish and Scottish musical elements into heavy, melodic metal songwriting. Their music draws from ancient mythology and Gaelic heritage rendered through distorted guitars.

Oakland, California's Culper Ring blend the drone metal's meditative heaviness with unusual folk metal textures, creating patient, long-form music with a pastoral and ritualistic quality. Named for the Revolutionary War spy ring, their sound is layered with subtle historical intrigue.