Out of Reedley in California's Central Valley, Nothing play a stripped-down, mournful strain of doom metal that feels shaped by the long flat horizons and scorching silence of that landscape. Formed in 2010, the band pursues heaviness through restraint — slow tempos, low tunings, and a suffocating weight that settles rather than batters.

Three-time Grammy-nominated progressive metal band known for elaborate live shows with custom-built instruments.

Savage Death Metal from Wichita Falls.

Connecticut's Nothing Sacred blend progressive metal's compositional ambition with the punch of thrash and the melodic instincts of classic heavy metal, emerging in 2020 as one of the Northeast's more technically adventurous acts. The band pushes arrangements beyond conventional verse-chorus structures, letting their progressive tendencies breathe without losing the momentum that thrash demands.

Minneapolis death metal outfit Nothingness formed in 2019 and have quickly carved out a place in Minnesota's thriving underground extreme metal scene with a sound that is unrelenting and purposefully unadorned. They favor the direct brutality of classic death metal — dense low-end, churning rhythms, and vocals dredged from somewhere beneath the frost line.

Formed in 2022 in Sturgis, Michigan, Nova Blast combine the churning groove of mid-period metal with metalcore's melodic and structural sensibilities, a pairing that suits the band's direct, hard-hitting approach. Young but focused, they represent the next wave of Midwest metal — bands building identity in smaller cities far from the conventional scenes.

Nova Collective is a progressive metal and jazz fusion project founded in 2014 in Raleigh, North Carolina, by Dan Briggs of Between the Buried and Me and Richard Henshall of Haken, alongside drummer Matt Lynch and keyboardist Pete Jones. Their 2017 debut The Further Side on Metal Blade Records showcased intricate, fusion-informed compositions that drew on progressive rock, jazz, and world music without leaning on extreme metal aggression. The project stands as a showcase for instrumental musicianship among players already established in the progressive metal world.

Los Angeles's NovaReign emerged in 2018 at the crossroads of European-influenced power metal and progressive metal's technical ambition, bringing soaring melodies and intricate arrangements to a scene not always known for that style. Their songwriting keeps the spectacle of power metal intact while the progressive elements add depth and unpredictability to tracks that reward repeated listening.

A very recent formation out of New England, November Fire arrived in 2024 playing psychedelic doom and stoner metal that carries the languid, fuzz-drenched weight of the region's long winters. Their Bandcamp presence signals a band already thinking beyond the riff, incorporating psychedelic drift into a doom framework that emphasizes mood and slow-burning intensity over speed.