Originally an Oakland band on Ripple Music, relocated to Austin in 2020. Two albums of Pentagram and Deep Purple-inspired heavy rock.

Saint Paul's Warhead emerged in 2023 at the intersection of thrash, death metal, and crossover — a convergence zone where the pit never stops moving. They bring the raw directness of crossover's hardcore DNA to material that has genuine death metal menace buried inside it, and the result plays like a provocation aimed at anyone standing still. The Twin Cities underground has always had teeth, and Warhead are happy to use theirs.

Detroit's Witch has been running hot since 2006, fueling their thrash and speed metal with the city's industrial grit and a no-frills aggression that owes as much to early Motorhead as it does the Bay Area thrash canon. Their sound is lean and mean — fast riffs, barked vocals, zero pretense. In a city with a long history of hard music, they've kept the old-school flame lit.

Uncompromising traditional metal anchored by thrash, speed, and doom influences. Guest appearances from members of Manowar and Virgin Steele on their releases.

Washington state's Witchtrial formed in 2017 playing speed and heavy metal with a clear nod to punk's energy and punk's contempt for pretension, straddling the line where Motörhead meets the NWOBHM. Their Bandcamp handle's "DC" tag suggests some cross-country connective tissue, adding intrigue to their geographic placement. They are lean, fast, and direct — a throwback built with genuine conviction.

Indiana's Wraith formed in 2017 to channel the raw energy of blackened speed metal and thrash punk into something that feels genuinely dangerous. Drawing from the crossover spirit of the 1980s and electrifying it with black metal venom, they play with the kind of aggressive simplicity that leaves little room for anything but forward motion.

Cleveland's Wyld Timez weaponize the rawness of first-wave black metal and fuse it to the locomotive momentum of speed metal and classic heavy metal, resulting in a high-energy blast of blackened aggression formed in 2021. Their approach pulls from the leather-and-spikes underground with a restless, reckless energy.