Sacramento's Volrahven have been playing thrash/death metal since 2020, combining the Bay Area thrash tradition in their geographic vicinity with the more vicious end of death metal to produce something meaner than pure thrash and more riff-centered than pure death. California has an obvious claim on both genres and Volrahven work like a band that knows the history and wants to operate in the space between the two rather than settling for either. Four years in, the Sacramento underground has found a reliable representative.

Montpelier, Virginia's Vomit Stain have been running a death/thrash racket since 2017, threading the savage riffing of old-school thrash through a death metal framework that adds extra density and menace. Their sound is meat-and-potatoes extreme metal executed with the stubborn regional pride of a band that has no interest in trends.

Kensington, California's Vomitorium came together in 2017 with a sound that plants thrash metal squarely in punk's grease-stained soil, the kind of crossover aggression that reminds you both genres were always closer than their gatekeepers wanted to admit. The Bay Area heritage shows — fast, loud, and furious with a working-class attitude that precedes any genre label.

Formed in 2020 in Guilderland, New York, Vortex play heavy metal grounded in the hard-driving traditions of thrash with a no-frills, riff-first approach. The band leans into the kinetic energy of classic thrash while keeping the songwriting anchored in heavy metal's melodic instincts. Short on pretension and long on velocity, they represent the continuing vitality of the upstate New York metal underground.

Ripping Death / Thrash Metal from San Antonio.

Montgomery, Alabama progressive thrash outfit that has been pushing against genre boundaries since 2011, threading complex song structures and odd time signatures through aggressive thrash foundations. Long-running for the Alabama underground, they bring a technical edge that sets them apart from the region's more straightforward metal acts.