Out of Franklin, Kentucky, Demeanor have been grinding away since 2013 at a particularly abrasive intersection of grindcore, mathcore, and sludge metal. The rhythmic unpredictability of their mathcore side gives the songs a destabilizing quality that makes the sludge moments hit that much harder.

Sacramento's Dementia started out in the stoner and heavy metal tradition before pivoting toward nu-metal as their sound evolved over the years. Formed in 2013, they represent the California underground's tendency to absorb and recombine influences across metal's many stylistic eras.

Allentown, Pennsylvania's Dementia play thrash and speed metal with the blue-collar conviction of a region that never fully abandoned the genre's original intensity. Formed in 2013, they tap into a sound that owes as much to Overkill's East Coast crunch as it does to the classic speed metal template.

Youngstown, Ohio's Dementia bring a rust belt toughness to straight-ahead thrash metal, a city with a long tradition of hard-edged underground music. Formed in 2013, they deliver the genre's core promise without frills — aggressive riffing, pummeling drums, and a no-nonsense approach to extremity.

East Hanover's Dementia occupy the traditional heavy metal space with a New Jersey directness that suits the genre's working-class roots. Formed in 2013, they draw on the region's dense club circuit heritage and deliver the kind of heads-down heavy metal that values songs over spectacle.

San Francisco's Dementia operate out of one of American thrash metal's most storied cities, where the genre was forged in clubs and rehearsal spaces in the early 1980s. Formed in 2013, they carry that lineage forward with a direct approach to thrash that honors the city's foundational influence on the genre.

Walnut, California's Dementia Fight Club are a brand-new grindcore and goregrind outfit that arrived in 2023 with no apparent interest in subtlety. Short, brutal, and intentionally grotesque, they belong to the SoCal underground tradition of bands that treat extremity as the point, not the means.

West Winfield, New York's Demential deal in brutal death metal from the rural upstate region, far from the polished club circuit — a geographic isolation that seems to inform the uncompromising density of their sound. Since 2019, they've pursued the most extreme end of the death metal spectrum with single-minded purpose.

Madison, Wisconsin's Demento have been at it since 2003, a longevity that speaks to a genuine commitment to heavy and groove metal in a city better known for indie and experimental music. Their groove-driven attack is built on thick mid-tempo riffs and a rhythmic confidence that only comes from years of grinding on the road.