Los Angeles's Skorched pull from thrash, death metal, and hardcore in equal measure — a crossover-minded trio active since 2017 that reflects the city's long tradition of genre-blurring underground acts where pit culture and riff weight converge.

Georgetown, Texas's Skotose have been exploring black metal's bleaker corridors since 2022, operating just outside of Austin in a suburb that rarely appears on metal maps — their work defined by a cold, direct intensity suited to the Greek-derived name meaning 'darkness.'

Razor-sharp Thrash Metal / Crossover / Hardcore from Houston.

Spokane, Washington's Skovicus have been crafting black metal since 2015 in a city far removed from both the coastal scenes and the genre's Scandinavian origins — an inland Northwest project that brings a cold, self-reliant quality to their material.

Out of Valhalla, New York — a town whose name suits the project well — Skovtåge has been playing black metal since 2021, the Danish name (meaning 'forest fog') matched by music that evokes dim woodland atmospheres and old-world darkness.

Herndon, Virginia's Skraelinx (formed 2023) work a death/thrash hybrid that draws on Northern Virginia's proximity to both the D.C. hardcore tradition and the broader East Coast extreme metal underground, channeling aggression through a name referencing the Norse term for indigenous peoples encountered in Vinland.

A black metal project out of Raleigh, North Carolina, Skrekkblod emerged in 2024 with a name drawn from Nordic-inflected horror imagery — "skrekkblod" roughly translating to terror-blood. Their approach sits squarely in raw, stripped-down black metal tradition.

Formed in Seattle in 2022, Skrelle is a black metal act working within the Pacific Northwest's fertile underground scene, channeling the region's damp, grey atmosphere into cold and abrasive compositions.

Co-founded by Danny Lohner, who left to join Nine Inch Nails. Debut produced by Al Jourgensen (Ministry) outsold every other debut on the Metal Blade catalog. Reunited at SXSW 2011.