Greeley, Colorado symphonic melodic death metal band formed in 2019, Starwraith layers orchestral arrangements and cinematic keyboard textures over melodic death metal riffing and aggressive rhythmic attack.

Fayetteville, Arkansas sludge/doom metal band formed in 2024, Stash Hag deal in slow, corrosive heaviness rooted in the Southern sludge tradition with a crushing low-end focus.

State Champs formed in Albany, New York in 2010 and became one of the central bands in the 2010s pop-punk revival. Early demos and the 2011 release Apparently, I'm Nothing led into the Pure Noise era, where Overslept and The Finer Things defined their sound: fast, cleanly produced guitars, tightly stacked backing vocals, and Derek DiScanio's bright, elastic lead melodies. Around the World and Back gave the band a larger, more polished profile while keeping the punchy rhythms and emotionally direct writing that had made their debut connect. Living Proof, Kings of the New Age, and the self-titled State Champs continued to refine a sound built for both club sing-alongs and bigger rock rooms. The band's history is less about dramatic reinvention than consistency and craft. They write with the speed and uplift of classic pop punk, but their recordings emphasize modern clarity, vocal precision, and choruses that turn romantic tension, uncertainty, and resilience into compact, high-energy songs. Their polish works because the rhythm section still moves like a punk band.

Birmingham, Alabama death metal band active since 2005, State of Decay represents the deep South's underground death metal community with a straightforward, punishing approach to the genre.

Norfolk, Virginia crossover thrash band formed in 2022, State of Emergency channels the aggression of hardcore punk and the riff intensity of thrash metal into a lean, speed-driven attack.

Ruthless Slam / Brutal Death Metal / Hardcore from Houston.

New York thrash metal band formed in 2014, State of Mind delivers aggressive, riff-driven thrash in the classic American tradition with a raw, underground approach.

Maplewood, Minnesota thrash metal band formed in 2014, State of Mind pursues the aggressive, fast-paced riffing of classic American thrash with a Midwestern underground sensibility.

Hayward, California metalcore and melodic death metal band formed in 2025, State of Reliance blends the hook-driven intensity of metalcore with the melodic riff vocabulary of death metal.