Columbus, Ohio's Shores of Elysium have been working the boundary between melodic death metal and deathcore since 2012, combining memorable melodic hooks with the heaviness and aggression that define Ohio's prolific extreme metal output.

Phoenix, Arizona's Shores of Ithaka formed in 2023 drawing on the epic, narrative qualities of Homeric myth to inform their melodic death metal — a sound built around sweeping leads and heavy grooves well-suited to the desert Southwest's dramatic terrain.

Redwood City, California's Short Fuse play melodic death metal with a Bay Area edge — formed in 2017, the band combine Gothenburg-style melodic leads with the technical precision and intensity characteristic of the Northern California extreme underground.

Baltimore melodic death metal band formed in 2023, blending hook-driven melody and harmonic guitar interplay with death metal's aggression — a recent entry into a city with a deep extreme metal history and a melodeath tradition indebted to both Scandinavian and East Coast influences.

Cincinnati melodic death metal act formed in 2015, balancing hook-driven melody and harsh aggression in the tradition of Scandinavian melodeath with an unmistakably American edge.

Buffalo melodic death metal band active since 2012, blending the snarl and weight of death metal with melodic sensibility from a Great Lakes city with a fierce and underappreciated metal underground.

Ocean Beach, California's Silence the Prince work within melodic death metal's characteristic blend of harsh extremity and melodic guitar leads, bringing San Diego's coastal scene sensibility to a genre rooted in Scandinavian influences since 2018.

St. Louis-based Silence the Witness blend the hook-driven intensity of metalcore with the heavier, more technically demanding elements of melodic death metal, drawing on both traditions to craft a dynamic and aggressive sound since 2015.

Los Angeles outfit formed in 2014 who fuse the twin-guitar melodicism of Scandinavian death metal with power metal's soaring sensibility, resulting in music that is both technically demanding and built around hooky, anthemic structures. Their sound draws equally from In Flames-era melodeath and the more grandiose end of American power metal.