Formed in 2025 in Knoxville, Tennessee, Scars like Reminders take atmospheric black metal's interplay of beauty and bleakness and root it in the moody, mountainous landscape of East Tennessee — a natural fit for a genre built on longing, isolation, and vast sonic space. Brand new to the underground, their atmospheric approach promises expansive, emotionally charged black metal from an underrepresented corner of the American South.

McHenry, Illinois's Scars of Armageddon have been delivering power metal with conviction since 2013, drawing from the genre's European tradition of soaring vocals, double-bass gallop, and anthemic songwriting while keeping their feet planted in the American Midwest underground. Their name stakes out the dramatic, end-times register that power metal has always inhabited.

Devastating Progressive Death Metal from San Antonio.

Tucson, Arizona's Scary Kids Scaring Kids were a vital force in the mid-2000s post-hardcore scene, blending synth-driven electronic elements with aggressive, technically proficient heavy rock and dual vocals. Their 2005 self-titled album on Immortal Records showcased a band with a flair for dramatic composition, shifting between frenzied screams and atmospheric interludes. After disbanding in 2010, their 2022 reunion brought renewed attention to a catalog that anticipated many of the genre-blending trends that would later define modern post-hardcore.

Johnstown, Pennsylvania's Scathe blend metalcore and death metal in the tradition of bands that refuse to choose between brutal heaviness and emotionally charged song structure, forming in 2015 in a post-industrial Pennsylvania city with a long and underappreciated heavy music history. Their hybrid approach favors the visceral impact of death metal riffing within a more accessible, breakdown-driven metalcore framework.

Scattered Remnants are one of the more durable brutal death metal acts in the New England underground, operating out of Leominster, Massachusetts since 1994 — a three-decade run that puts them in the same vintage as the genre's founding generation. Their longevity is a testament to genuine commitment to brutal death metal's most uncompromising values, outlasting trends and lineup shifts alike.

Virginia's Scavenger returned to activity in 2018 with death metal rooted in the classic era — a band whose Bandcamp handle (scavenger1985) hints at either vintage roots or a deep reverence for the year death metal was beginning to take shape. Their approach is direct and predatory, consistent with the genre's early tradition of economy and aggression.

Scene Queen turns metalcore into a hyperfeminine, neon-pink confrontation, using the self-coined bimbocore tag as both joke and manifesto. Hannah Collins builds songs from breakdowns, bounce riffs, trap-pop cadences, glossy synths, and choruses that land like internet slogans sharpened into hooks. The early Bimbocore EPs established the template: exaggerated sweetness crashing into screamed vocals, down-tuned guitars, and lyrics that treat sexism, scene hypocrisy, sexuality, and revenge fantasy with theatrical bluntness. Hot Singles in Your Area expanded that world into a full album, keeping the camp while adding more focused songwriting and bigger heavy-pop production. Scene Queen's music works because the humor is not a retreat from anger; it is the delivery system. A track can feel bubblegum, abrasive, ridiculous, and genuinely furious within a minute, and that whiplash is part of the identity. The project draws from metalcore and alternative metal while refusing their usual visual codes, making spectacle, satire, and breakdowns operate as one loud personality.

Chicago's Scepter have been refining their thrash metal craft since 2019, contributing to the Windy City's robust and historically significant heavy metal underground. The band draws from the classic thrash tradition — tight, aggressive riffwork, punishing tempos, and the kind of no-frills songwriting that connects them to the genre's foundational years.