Relentless Black / Death / Groove Metal / Grindcore from Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas (early); Austin, Texas (later).

Chicago death metal and grindcore act Bat Eater has been grinding since 2020, tackling themes of satire, paranoia, and coronavirus-era zeitgeist with characteristically vicious brevity.

A short-lived Houston thrash act from 1985 that quickly renamed themselves Crucial Surge after discovering a New York band already claimed the Battalion name.

An Atlanta black metal curiosity formed in 2023 by a then-13-year-old frontman, trafficking in occult, gore, and violence across two self-released demos.

A black/death metal act from Columbus, Ohio active since 2018, with minimal documentation beyond their Metal Archives entry.

A death/doom project from Bristol, Connecticut active since 2020, with no released recordings yet catalogued.

A black/death metal band from New Brighton, Pennsylvania formed in 1988, later changing their name and surfacing on compilations through Thrash Records across the following decades.

A New York sludge/doom outfit with industrial undercurrents active from 2008 to around 2013, releasing material through Seventh Rule Recordings and appearing on several early-2010s metal compilations.

Bayside formed in Queens in 2000 and built one of the most durable catalogs in the emo and pop-punk world by sounding older, darker, and more disciplined than many of their peers. Anthony Raneri's voice and songwriting give the band its center: melodic but edged with bitterness, self-interrogation, and a dry humor that keeps the drama from feeling hollow. Sirens and Condolences and the self-titled album introduced the core blend of tight punk rhythms, sharp lead guitar work, and confessional choruses, while The Walking Wounded, Shudder, Killing Time, Cult, Vacancy, Interrobang, and There Are Worse Things Than Being Alive proved the formula had long legs. Jack O'Shea's guitar lines are a major part of the identity, adding classic-rock precision and restless movement to songs that could otherwise sit comfortably in scene-punk territory. Bayside are not heavy in the metal sense, but they belong in punk-adjacent scope through intensity, touring history, and emotional force. Their best songs make disappointment sound controlled rather than collapsed, turning personal wreckage into tightly written, repeatable anthems.