Baltimore doom metal project. The name evokes Huysmans' decadent novel, channeling literary darkness through Charm City heaviness.

Austin, Texas metalcore project. The name rebels against the old guard from a city that reinvents itself constantly.

Against the Current formed in Poughkeepsie in 2011 and grew from a YouTube-era pop-rock band into an international alternative act with clear pop-punk roots. Chrissy Costanza, Dan Gow, and Will Ferri first built momentum through covers and independent EPs, then developed their own catalog with Infinity and Gravity. In Our Bones established a polished full-length identity with "Running with the Wild Things," "Wasteland," and "Young & Relentless," while Past Lives moved toward sleeker synth-pop and alternative rock. Later singles and Fever brought back more bite, and "Legends Never Die," created with League of Legends, carried the band to a much wider global audience. Against the Current fit punk scope through pop punk and alternative-rock context, especially in their early writing, touring, and scene relationships. They are melodic and highly polished, but the core appeal remains guitar-driven urgency, big choruses, and Costanza's commanding vocal presence. The band works best when pop clarity and rock momentum reinforce each other, turning self-doubt and defiance into songs built for immediate lift.

Against the Damned is a melodic death metal band from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Their self-titled 2019 EP delivers six tracks of melodic death metal from a state rarely associated with the genre.

Chicago black/death metal project. Pestilence-fighting extremity from the Windy City.

Pittsburgh noise rock project. Biblical-sounding fury channeled through dissonant heaviness from the Steel City.

Agaliarept is a black metal project from California named after a demon from occult grimoire tradition. Their two EPs — "Human sacrificium" (2017) and "Necro Lust Invocation" (2019) — deliver raw, occult-themed black metal steeped in the traditions of the Second Wave.

Agalloch was one of the most revered bands in American atmospheric metal, based in Portland, Oregon. Blending black metal, folk, doom, post-rock, and neofolk into something entirely their own, the band created a string of landmark albums including "The Mantle" and "Ashes Against the Grain" before disbanding in 2016. Their Bandcamp catalog preserves remasters and demos from a body of work that helped define the atmospheric metal genre.

Agartha is a black metal project from Nashville, Tennessee. With four releases between 2015 and 2019, the project explores experimental territory under the banner of black metal, drawing its name from the legendary subterranean civilization of occult mythology.