Los Angeles grindcore outfit H.A.R.M. has been blasting through the Southern California underground since 2018, delivering the kind of short, violent bursts that the genre demands. Their name functions as a mission statement.

Formed in Illinois in 2024, H.O.O.D. is a fresh entry into the American black metal underground, channeling icy, lo-fi hostility with a stripped-down ferocity characteristic of the genre's most uncompromising practitioners.

Milwaukee's H1Z1 has been grinding out heavy, groove-laced metal since 2016, taking their name from the virus and bringing a similarly infectious heaviness to the Wisconsin scene. Thick riffs and a hard-swinging rhythmic core define their approach.

H2O have been stalwarts of the New York hardcore scene since forming in 1994, playing positive, melodic hardcore punk that bridges the gap between the CBGB era and the modern scene. Vocalist Toby Morse's uplifting lyrical approach and the band's Bad Brains and Minor Threat-inspired energy make them a refreshing counterpoint to hardcore's angrier factions. Albums like 'Go' and 'Nothing to Prove' are celebrations of community, straight edge values, and the enduring power of punk rock positivity.

Named after a demon of transformation, Long Island's Haagenti began with melodic death metal roots before evolving into a heavier, more unrelenting death metal sound over their decade-plus existence. Their trajectory mirrors the demonic namesake — a gradual, deliberate shift into something darker.

Taking their name from the cold sea fog that rolls in off the North Sea, Haar is a U.S. black metal project that conjures a similarly bleak and suffocating atmosphere. Active since 2010, they trade in the kind of desolate, windswept darkness that recalls the genre's Scandinavian origins.

New Orleans sludge and doom act Haarp draws heavily from the murk and misery of their city's storied extreme metal tradition. Since regrouping in 2014, they've built a reputation on crushing low-end riffs and an oppressive, swamp-soaked heaviness.

Out of New Orleans, Haate has been channeling pure thrash aggression since 2014, bringing a mean-spirited, no-frills attack that fits right alongside the city's broader tradition of extreme music. Raw and relentless.

San Diego's Habitual Defilement occupies the brutal end of the death metal spectrum, fusing slam's rhythmic brutality with the relentless speed and gore fixation of brutal death metal since 2012. Unambiguously punishing.