Phoenix's No Zodiac arrived in 2017 carving out a brutal space where death metal's gore-drenched extremity slams headfirst into hardcore's pit-tested physicality. Their brand of brutal death metal/hardcore fusion is built for maximum bodily impact — breakdowns that feel seismic, blastbeats that transition into beatdown sections, drawing on the desert city's history of producing some of the most physically intense underground heavy music in the American Southwest.

Washington, D.C.'s No/Mas deliver a ferocious blend of grindcore, death metal, and hardcore that has earned them a fierce reputation since their 2016 formation, releasing through Closed Casket Activities. Vocalist Roger Rivadeneira's lyrics tackle depression, anxiety, and mental health with unflinching honesty, adding emotional weight to the band's breakneck sonic assault. Their releases 'Consume / Deny / Repent' and 'No Peace' showcase a band that channels personal darkness into cathartic, devastating extremity.

Washington State's No/Más arrived in 2022 fusing grindcore's commitment to brevity and chaos with the gutting heaviness of death metal — a combination that weaponizes short run times into something genuinely destabilizing. Their name, Spanish for "no more," signals a kind of principled refusal, and their music follows through: dense, fast, and merciless, with nothing wasted and no quarter given.

Cincinnati's Nobody have been cultivating post-black metal introspection since 2018, threading atmospheric density and emotional weight through the black metal framework in ways that feel genuinely searching. Operating under a Bandcamp presence shared with the striking "videsuicide" handle, they push into the more melancholic and expansive post-black territory, where blast and tremolo give way to texture and mood.

Wisconsin's Nobody — a separate entity from their Cincinnati namesake — have been working groove and thrash metal since 2018 with the straightforward muscle that both genres demand. Their sound favors the mid-paced groove over flat-out thrash velocity, building riffs with the kind of density and swing that rewards repeated listening, representing a quietly tenacious corner of the Midwest's underground metal scene.

Grand Rapids, Michigan's Nociception take their name from the neurological process by which the body senses pain, and their death metal lives up to the name — dense, anatomical, and unsparing. Formed in 2019, they bring a methodical intensity to the genre, channeling the technical precision of the death metal tradition through a sound that is as surgically constructed as it is viscerally brutal.

Noctos emerged in 2014 as a raw black metal project committed to the corrosive, lo-fi aesthetic that defines the genre's most underground expressions. Their sound favors primitive ferocity over polish — tremolo-drenched riffs buried under caustic production that feels deliberately abrasive and immediate. Operating in the US without ties to any regional scene, Noctos channels the spirit of early Scandinavian black metal into an uncompromising American context.

Houston's Nocturnal Avernus have cultivated a grim presence in the Texas underground since forming in 2008, weaving cold atmospheric black metal from a city better known for its death metal heritage. Their approach leans into darkness and dissonance, standing as one of Houston's more determined black metal voices amid a scene dominated by heavier and denser sounds. Over more than fifteen years of activity, the band has remained resolutely committed to the raw traditions of the genre.

A brand-new black metal entity out of Oklahoma, Nocturnal Corruptor arrived in 2026 with an intent to corrupt and defile that's embedded right in the name. Oklahoma's underground metal scene is small but quietly determined, and this project slots into that tradition with a focus on orthodox black metal hostility. Still in their earliest stages, the band represents a fresh eruption of darkness from the southern plains.