Mobile, Alabama's D.R.E.A.D. locks groove metal's thick, chugging momentum into thrash's angular attack, landing somewhere between Pantera and Exodus in attitude. There's a Southern-fried swagger underneath the heaviness that sets them apart.

East Peoria, Illinois may not be the first city you associate with metal, but Daecurri has been building a groove and heavy metal hybrid there since 2013. Their riffs are designed to move crowds, sitting in the thick space between Pantera-style bruising and traditional metal fire.

Sacramento's Damage over Time launched in 2024 with a sound built on the groove-locked swing of Pantera-era groove metal fused with thrash's relentless forward drive. A promising new entry in the California heavy metal underground.

New York City's Damn Your Eyes launched in 2020 with a groove metal attack built on locked-in, bruising rhythms and hard rock attitude. Their sound draws on the mid-90s groove metal tradition while keeping enough rock grit to feel immediate and alive.

St. Louis' Damnation Army have been mobilizing a war on comfortable metal since 2004, merging thrash and groove metal's rhythmic punch with the blunt force of hardcore punk. Two decades in, they remain one of the Midwest's most combative and dependable underground acts.

New York's Dark After Dawn launched in 2024 at the intersection of melodic death and groove metal, channeling both infectious hooks and crushing rhythmic drive into songs built for the pit as much as the headphones. A promising new presence in the East Coast heavy scene.

Cedar Rapids, Iowa's Dark Agenda have been plotting their sonic course since 2023, combining thrash metal's velocity with groove metal's locking, headbang-inducing rhythms. The result is heavy music engineered from the ground up for live impact.

Fort Walton Beach's Dark Con of Man have been cooking up groove-laced heavy metal since 2011 — the kind of music that hits with full-body force and doesn't let go. Equal parts Southern weight and metal bite.

Hudson, New York's Dark Fate are something of a shape-shifter — their history spans death metal, grindcore, thrash, groove, and traditional heavy metal, a genre-wandering evolution that makes them genuinely hard to pin down. Two decades of mutation with a riff always at the center.