Minneapolis black/sludge metal duo formed in 2022, marrying the frozen misanthropy of black metal to the tar-thick heaviness of sludge in a way that suits the long, lightless winters of the upper Midwest.

Portland's gothic heavy metal outfit blends brooding post-punk atmosphere with traditional metal songwriting, their dark romanticism fitting neatly into the Pacific Northwest's long history of melancholy and overcast skies.

Kansas City, Missouri post-metal project Idle Heirs was formed in 2024 by Coalesce vocalist Sean Ingram and producer Josh Barber, representing a significant stylistic departure from Ingram's history in aggressive metalcore. Their debut album Life Is Violence was released on Relapse Records in April 2025, drawing on atmospheric sludge metal and shoegaze-influenced post-metal textures that prioritize space and layering over direct sonic aggression. The project marks a new creative direction for Ingram outside the confines of the band that defined his career.

New York heavy metal practitioners who have been delivering no-nonsense traditional metal workouts since 2018, built on strong riffs and classic structures that trust the songs to speak for themselves.

New York black/sludge outfit operating in the space between blackened tremolo ferocity and the slow, grinding weight of sludge — an uneasy tension that gives their sound a lurching, unpredictable menace.

Santa Cruz black metal entity active since 2009, harnessing the fog and coastal desolation of the California central coast into a raw, ritualistic sound that refuses the clean production of city-scene peers.

Central California's Orcutt-based death/groove/alternative hybrid brings an unpredictable stylistic restlessness to the table, fusing groove metal's rhythmic punch with death metal grit and alternative metal's appetite for texture.

Black metal from Marshalltown, Iowa — an act that proves the genre's nihilistic fire burns just as cold in the flat, windswept heartland as in any Scandinavian forest.

Pennsylvania's slam/brutal death/goregrind entity named after the world's largest mantis, matching that predator's lethality with a sound designed to maximize bodily damage per minute since 2023.