Pleasanton, California's Jasun Tipton brings a meticulous progressive metal sensibility to his solo output, his compositional style shaped by years in technical outfits like Zero Hour — dense, mathematically precise, and richly melodic.

Jatere is a thrash/death metal band formed in Asunción, Paraguay in 2025. They released their debut demo "La muerte no da risa" in December 2025, a three-track release with Spanish-language titles that showcases their aggressive crossover of thrash and death metal influences.

Jaue is a pagan black metal solo project founded in 2020 by Julián David Trujillo Moreno in El Carmen de Viboral, Antioquia, Colombia, and released through Satanath Records. The project draws on Latin American ancestral thought and released its debut full-length, "Cantos del sur salvaje", in 2023.

Eugene, Oregon's Jean Grey occupy a savage corner of melodic death and deathcore, named after the Marvel character but sonically closer to the chaos of her Phoenix form — technically sharp riffs and deathcore breakdowns wrapped in an unexpected sense of melody.

Jeff Loomis is a guitarist from Washington state best known as the lead guitarist of progressive metal band Nevermore, with whom he recorded from 1994 until the band's dissolution in 2011. His 2008 solo debut Zero Order Phase took the fourth spot in Guitar World's 2009 readers' poll for best shred album; he followed it with Plains of Oblivion (2012) before joining melodic death metal band Arch Enemy as lead guitarist in 2014.

Redding, California's Jefferson Death Trooper are a no-frills thrash metal band formed in 2021 with a clear reverence for the genre's classic Bay Area template — fast, aggressive, and built around the kind of pit-ready riffs that don't need a gimmick.

Sonoma, California guitarist Jeffro Hunter blends neoclassical shred with traditional heavy metal, a recently active solo project that draws on deep familiarity with the classical guitar canon and channels it through high-voltage metal performance.

Out of Brattleboro, Vermont, Jeopardy play hard-nosed thrash with a crossover edge that tips its hat to the genre's hardcore roots, forging a pit-driven, riff-forward sound since 2011 that doesn't waste a second on subtlety.

Jacksonville, Florida's Jeremy Aitken delivers power and heavy metal with a hard rock sensibility, a solo project built around strong melodic hooks and the kind of guitar-forward songwriting that draws equally from traditional metal and classic rock.