South Carolina's Heathen Bastard have been brewing a potent mix of stoner, sludge, and doom out of Florence since 2013 — grimy, low-slung music with Southern humidity baked into every riff. They occupy the nastier, swampier end of the American heavy underground.

Denver grindcore act Heathen Burial formed in 2017 and have since delivered short, violent blasts of controlled chaos that exemplify the genre's contempt for excess. They're a reliable fixture in Colorado's extreme underground, fast and pitiless by design.

San Diego's Heathen God arrived in 2024 at the intersection of blackened and melodic death metal, a debut act with ambition written into their name and immediacy in their execution. Their blend of melodic death metal craft and black metal atmosphere positions them as one of Southern California's more intriguing recent arrivals.

Cincinnati's Heathen Knight throw thrash, death metal, and grindcore into a single chaotic vessel and let the collision speak for itself. Since 2016, the Ohio act has favored brutish efficiency over nuance, making them one of the Midwest's more reliably ferocious crossover outfits.

Philadelphia's Heathen of the North have been bringing Viking and folk metal's epic mythology to Southeastern Pennsylvania since 2012, melding battle-ready riffs with melodic folk instrumentation. Their music celebrates pre-Christian northern tradition with genuine reverence and compositional craft.

Blistering Crossover / Death / Thrash Metal out of Texas.

California's Heathendom formed in 2025 as a symphonic black metal project, layering orchestral grandeur over cold, dissonant riffing in the tradition of the genre's most theatrical practitioners. They're among the newest acts in the domestic symphonic black metal scene, arriving with fully formed ambition.

San Antonio's Heather Leather have been delivering classic-minded heavy metal since 2019, drawing on the NWOBHM playbook while maintaining a distinctly Texas identity. Their sound prioritizes melodic riffs and honest, unadorned songwriting over modern production gloss.

Albuquerque's Heave combine the desert-baked slowness of stoner metal with the gravitational weight of doom, producing music that feels shaped by New Mexico's vast, arid landscape. Since 2013, they've been one of the Southwest's most reliable purveyors of low-tuned, heavy-lidded heaviness.