Mansfield Center, Connecticut black metal project with two releases since 2010. The Hill and Of The Land channel the New England countryside into atmospheric black metal that treats the rural Connecticut landscape as sacred ground.

Memphis, Tennessee hardcore punk and sludge hybrid with three releases since 2017. Their split with experimental grindcore outfit Knoll demonstrates a willingness to operate at the extreme edge of heavy music from the Bluff City.

Los Angeles groove/progressive metal act blending technical complexity with heavy rhythmic drive, reflecting L.A.'s position as a melting pot for every conceivable metal subgenre.

Cincinnati power metal project whose 2015 single — featuring a collaboration with Dr. Space — blends cosmic exploration with mythological reference. Echoes Of Mount Ida reaches from ancient Troy to the stars.

Pittsburgh death metal duo with two albums since 2018. Esoterica and Chaosophy channel occult philosophy through technical extremity, building a reputation for cerebral brutality from the Steel City.

Warwick, Rhode Island death metal project with four releases since 2012. Promises of Continued and Endless Contempt and a split with Doom Town establish them as a fixture in New England's extreme underground.

Portland death metal project whose 2018 demo captures raw, self-consuming extremity. Named after the cellular process of eating oneself — the body recycling its own components — a fitting metaphor for death metal's obsession with dissolution.

Oakland death metal legends and architects of the death-doom subgenre. Their Bandcamp catalog includes Dead as..., representing one chapter of a career that fundamentally shaped extreme music worldwide. Chris Reifert and company created the template for merging death metal's fury with doom's crushing pace.

Martinsburg, West Virginia grindcore project whose 2012 EP Precision Death delivers exactly calibrated blasts of fury from the Eastern Panhandle.