Brooklyn's Sanhedrin operate in the classic heavy metal tradition, bringing the borough's characteristic sharpness and urban energy to a genre typically associated with either arena bombast or forest grimness since 2015. They're a New York City band at heart — concise, confident, and playing heavy metal with a street-level seriousness.

Pittsburgh's Sanitarium have been delivering traditional heavy metal since 2012 from one of America's great working-class steel cities — a place whose own sonic history in metal runs deep. Their sound honors the genre's classic architecture: riff-forward songs, powerful vocals, and the kind of full-bodied metal that rewards volume.

Satan's Satyrs is a doom and heavy metal band from Herndon, Virginia, founded in 2009 by multi-instrumentalist Clayton Burgess while still in high school, blending the downtuned psychedelic weight of Electric Wizard with the aggression of Black Flag. The band gained notable recognition when Electric Wizard championed them and invited Burgess to perform at the 2013 Roadburn Festival, eventually leading to Burgess joining Electric Wizard as bassist. After releasing three LPs—Wild Beyond Belief (2012), Die Screaming (2014), and Don't Deliver Us (2015)—the band disbanded in 2019 before Burgess revived the project with a new lineup in 2023.

A US heavy metal act formed in 2023, Savage Oath channel the timeless vocabulary of traditional metal — riff-forward songwriting, muscular rhythms, and a commitment to the form that reads as both tribute and genuine passion. Still early in their run, they represent the enduring appeal of heavy metal in its most elemental and unadorned shape.

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Oakland, California's Saviours have been one of the Bay Area's most reliably heavy bands since 2005, fusing the fuzzed-out weight of stoner metal with the aggressive propulsion of thrash and the melodic confidence of classic heavy metal. Their records feel like desert highway riffs played at combat speed — sun-baked, riff-driven, and deeply indebted to the California heavy music tradition.

Boulder, Colorado's Scarlata bring a traditional heavy metal approach to the foot of the Rockies, forming in 2020 with a sound that favors melody, riff craft, and the songwriting sensibility of the genre's classic era. The band's name — Italian for scarlet — hints at a sense of drama and color in their approach that distinguishes them from purely aggressive pursuits.

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Champaign, Illinois's Scathe work the intersection of heavy, groove, and thrash metal — a power trio approach built on thick midrange riffs, driving rhythms, and the kind of blue-collar intensity that characterizes the Illinois college-town underground. Formed in 2015, they share only a name (and possibly a Bandcamp handle) with their Pennsylvania counterpart, carving out their own identity through sheer riff tonnage.