Oklahoma City's PeelingFlesh bring a wildly unique flavor to slamming brutal death metal by lacing their bone-crushing grooves with hip-hop samples and Blaxploitation film clips, creating what they call 'Slamming Gangster Groove.' Signed to Unique Leader Records, the band's releases like 'The G Code' and 'Human Pudding' deliver technically proficient slam death metal with an irreverent, street-savvy attitude that sets them apart from the genre's typically humorless extremity. Vocalist Damonteal Harris's guttural delivery over the band's lurching, groove-heavy riffs has made them one of slam's most distinctive rising acts.

Columbus, Ohio's Sanguisugabogg have brought a gleefully grotesque, slam-influenced approach to death metal that revels in absurdity and extremity with equal enthusiasm, earning a deal with Century Media Records on the strength of their viral momentum. Their debut 'Tortured Whole' and follow-up 'Homicidal Ecstasy' deliver lurching, downtuned brutality drenched in toilet humor and over-the-top gore, channeling the spirit of early Cannibal Corpse through a distinctly modern, meme-savvy sensibility. Their rapid rise from underground slam oddity to festival headliner reflects the new generation's appetite for death metal that refuses to take itself too seriously.