Placentia, California's Dark Prophet throw groove metal into their death/thrash foundation, the added pocket and midrange weight distinguishing them from more straightforward acts in the same lane.

Cincinnati's Dark Soul brings a groove metal punch to the Ohio underground, rolling out thick, mid-tempo riffs built for headbanging since the band formed in 2021.

Oklahoma City's Dark30 has been playing groove metal with a hard rock sensibility since 2004, outlasting trends and lineup changes to remain one of the Oklahoma City scene's more enduring heavy acts.

Cincinnati thrash act Darkhold arrived in 2022 with old-school velocity and riff-first songwriting that owes its allegiance to the genre's 1980s Bay Area architects. No frills, no concessions — just heads-down thrash with Midwest directness.

Seabrook, New Hampshire's Dawn of End punch well above the weight you'd expect from a small coastal town, delivering groove metal and metalcore with a physical, full-throttle conviction. Formed in 2016, they've developed a sound built for stages and pit floors.

Houston's Day of Reckoning pull from progressive metalcore and groove metal in equal measure, a combination that suits the city's taste for technically accomplished but physically punishing music. Formed in 2015, they've developed a sound with enough forward momentum to keep pace with the state's most demanding stages.

Dauphin, Pennsylvania's Day of Wrath lay into groove metal's mid-tempo churn with focused, blunt-instrument intensity. Since 2019, they've built their sound around the kind of pummeling riff dynamics that demand a physical response from an audience.

Michigan's Dead Against carve out a hybrid niche where melodic death metal hooks collide with groove-driven chugs and metalcore structure, drawing on influences from Gothenburg to the American midwest. Their music hits hard and lingers through the melody.

Coming out of Laredo on the Texas-Mexico border, Dead Albatross combine groove-laden rhythms with melodic death metal sensibility — a sound shaped as much by the region's gritty heat as by Scandinavian influences.