Pittsburgh's Genghis Khan draw from heavy, power, and speed metal traditions to build music with scope and ambition, active since 2014. Classic influences run strong here, delivered with the no-nonsense energy of Pennsylvania's steel-city underground.

Atlanta's Ghost Story have been blending heavy metal, power metal, and thrash since 2010, channeling the best of classic American metal into a sound that is equal parts anthem and assault. The South's storytelling tradition runs through every riff.

Toms River's Giggler pull off an unlikely combination: fusing the grandiosity of power metal with the slow, oppressive crawl of doom. The result is something operatic and crushing in equal measure, a strange and compelling beast from the New Jersey underground.

Portland, Oregon's Glacier revive the classic traditions of heavy and power metal with a reverence for melody, soaring vocals, and anthemic songwriting that feels earnest rather than nostalgic. Active since 2013, they're a bright light in the Pacific Northwest's heavier underground.

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Knoxville's Grimsteel fuse power metal's melodic ambition with progressive metal's structural complexity, crafting songs that move through dynamic shifts without losing the epic quality that makes the genre soar. Since 2019, they've been one of the more musically ambitious acts to emerge from the Tennessee underground.