Minneapolis' Sloggoth have been delivering sludge metal with the Midwestern grit and tenacity of a band committed to the heavy underground since their 2015 start. Their approach leans into the genre's defining characteristics — slow, dense, and deliberately uncomfortable — in a city with a thriving extreme scene.

Memphis' Slolerner are a 2025 newcomer to a city whose deep musical roots extend into the heaviest forms of sludge metal, channeling that tradition's swamp-thick tempos and grinding low end. Their emergence adds another entry to Tennessee's quietly growing heavy underground.

Phoenix, Arizona sludge and stoner metal band formed in 2024, channeling the desert Southwest's arid heat into lumbering, fuzz-drenched riffs and a hazy psychedelic atmosphere.

Portland, Oregon sludge and doom metal band formed in 2020, named after the Gaelic spirit of the restless dead and channeling that mythology into bleak, slow-grinding heaviness.

Martinsburg, West Virginia sludge and groove metal band formed in 2020, combining sludge metal's abrasive mid-paced weight with the rhythmic heaviness of groove metal in the Appalachian underground.

Collinsville, Illinois sludge and doom metal band formed in 2021, delivering thick, feedback-drenched riffs and a crushing low-end sonic identity from the Metro East underground just across from St. Louis.

Dubuque, Iowa duo formed in 2016 playing a crushing blend of sludge and stoner metal, bringing a raw Midwestern heaviness to the fuzz-and-feedback end of the genre.

Madison, Wisconsin band formed in 2017 specializing in sludge-infused doom metal, combining the suffocating weight of traditional doom with the abrasive grit of sludge.

Jackson, Tennessee band formed in 2013 wielding an exceptionally heavy hybrid of sludge, death, and doom metal, fusing death metal aggression with slow, grinding doom tempos and caustic sludge textures.