Relentless Black Metal from Denton.

Philadelphia's High Leaf rolled into the stoner metal world in 2023 with thick riffs and a commitment to the form's hazy, unhurried pleasures. They're squarely in the tradition of Philly heavy rock — unpretentious, loud, and more concerned with feel than complexity.

Terre Haute's High Off Anxiety channel exactly what their name implies into a volatile fusion of thrash and grindcore that treats nervous energy as structural material. A new outfit, they bring the cathartic directness that the most effective short-form extreme metal demands.

Oakland's High on Fire are one of the defining forces in American doom and sludge, built on Matt Pike's mythological vision and the kind of riff density that makes everything around it feel thin. Since reforming their presence in the early 2010s, they have remained one of the heaviest and most uncompromising bands on earth.

Philadelphia's High Reeper navigate the border between doom metal and hard rock with the ease of a band that doesn't feel the need to fully commit to either camp. Since 2017, they've written songs built for maximum riff payoff, borrowing from classic rock's instinct for the hook without softening their heaviness.

Los Angeles' Highland have been working a raw and confrontational strain of black metal since 2013, finding in the city's sprawl and contradictions a fitting backdrop for music this harsh and austere. The project operates at the margin of the local scene rather than its center.

Cape Cod's Highly Suspect channel raw blues-rock grit and grunge-influenced heaviness through Johnny Stevens's distinctive rasp, earning a Grammy nomination for 'Lydia' and mainstream radio success with 'My Name Is Human.' Their evolution from stripped-down garage rock to the more experimental, genre-blending territory of 'MCID' has kept them unpredictable and divisive in equal measure.

From the small town of Wilmore, Kentucky, Highmass have cultivated a brand of black metal since 2012 that carries the weight of geographic isolation. Their sound is cold and deliberate, indifferent to the underground's shifting fashions.

Tampa's Hiilessa — whose name derives from a Finnish word meaning to smolder — arrived in 2023 with black metal that lives up to the slow burn the name implies. Situated in Florida's historically fertile extreme metal environment, the project carves out a colder, more Nordic-flavored space.