Formed in Atlanta, Georgia in 1989, Stuck Mojo pioneered the fusion of Southern groove metal and hip-hop, making them one of the earliest and most recognized rap metal acts in the genre. Guitarst Rich Ward and vocalist Bonz anchored a sound that broke through commercially with the 1998 album Rising, which sold over 50,000 copies and stood as Century Media Records' best-selling release for several years. The band disbanded in 2001 before reuniting in 2005, continuing to record and tour with releases including Here Come the Infidels (2016).

Sludge and doom metal band from Lawrence, Kansas, formed in 2023, named after the legendarily haunted Stull Cemetery in eastern Kansas, channeling regional gothic mythology into slow, crushing metal. Lawrence's college-town underground provides a home for their bleak, heavy sound.

Progressive death metal band from Camdenton, Missouri, formed in 2023, blending the technical brutality of death metal with the compositional ambition of progressive metal in the Ozarks-region underground.

Stultiferya is a black metal band from Bogotá, Colombia, active since 2016 and operating under that name following an earlier period as Ohrwurm. Signed to Cannibal Distro, the band explores themes of existentialism, nihilism, phenomenology, and ontology, and released the EP "Genealogía" in 2021.

Thrash metal band from Columbus, Georgia, formed in 2021, delivering aggressive, riff-driven thrash in the southern underground. The band operates under the Stump Grinder Records label, suggesting both self-sufficient DIY ethos and organizational ambition.

Death metal band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, formed in 2021, sharing a name with the Georgia thrash act but operating independently in the Pittsburgh underground with a focus on straightforward, brutal death metal.

Experimental southern and black metal band from Nashville, Tennessee, formed in 2021, defying easy categorization by blending the atmospheric harshness of black metal with the roots-inflected heaviness of southern metal and a restlessly experimental compositional approach.

American black metal project formed in 2014 with no publicly listed city or state, operating in the anonymous underground tradition of the genre. The German name — meaning "assault rifle" — signals a militaristic, aggressive aesthetic consistent with certain strains of raw and orthodox black metal.

Heavy metal band from Cleveland, Ohio, formed in 2012, part of the city's enduring heavy metal tradition, drawing on classic riff-driven metal in a scene with deep roots going back to the earliest days of American heavy metal.