Pittsburgh band formed in 2011 who slam together stoner metal's loping, fuzz-saturated grooves with thrash aggression and a death 'n' roll swagger, landing somewhere between Electric Wizard and a swampier Entombed. Their Steel City roots come through in music that feels lived-in and deliberately heavy.

Los Angeles doom and heavy metal band formed in 2015, conjuring a ritualistic, occult-tinged atmosphere through slow tempos, commanding riffs, and deliberate pacing. Their name signals an affinity for the ceremonial side of doom metal, and their LA setting has long been fertile ground for that style.

Portland, Oregon act formed in 2012 that merges the mechanical rhythmic precision of djent with the crushing weight of deathcore and metalcore, built around polyrhythmic chugging and technical breakdowns. The "Sisyphean" in their name feels earned — their music is dense, cyclical, and relentlessly uncompromising.

Charleston, South Carolina death metal and grindcore band active since 2009, delivering short, punishing blasts of savagery in the tradition of Southern underground extremity. Their name carries a sardonic religious undertone that suits the irreverent violence of grind.

Willow Grove, Pennsylvania thrash metal band formed as recently as 2024, one of the newer entries in the thrash revival coming out of the mid-Atlantic. Raw, fast, and anchored in classic thrash fundamentals, they represent the continuing appeal of the genre among younger musicians.

Punishing Melodic Death Metal / Metalcore out of Texas.

Orange County, California melodic death metal band with roots going back to 2004, giving them over two decades in a scene that has seen plenty of turnover. Their melodic death approach is steeped in the Gothenburg tradition, applying it to the sun-baked Southern California underground.

Memphis, Tennessee black metal project formed in 2014, channeling the isolation and darkness of that city's blues-haunted landscape through a purely black metal lens. Operating in a Southern state not typically associated with the genre, Sivad carries an outsider intensity that suits black metal's individualist ethos.

St. Louis band formed in 2023 that drags death metal into sludge metal's murky, slow-burning territory, resulting in music that is both punishing and dense with atmosphere. As a very new act out of a city with a strong underground metal tradition, they arrive with an already fully-formed sense of the crushing and the heavy.