Alexandria, Virginia thrash metal band active since 2012, hailing from the Washington D.C. metro area where the region's hardcore and metal scenes have long cross-pollinated. Their name invokes the workmanlike brutality of classic thrash, and their decade-plus tenure suggests a band committed to keeping the style alive in the mid-Atlantic underground.

St. Louis groove and thrash metal outfit formed in 2016, combining the mid-tempo pocket and chugging heaviness of groove metal with the kinetic velocity of thrash. Rooted in the Midwestern metal underground, they channel the working-class grit that has long defined Missouri's heavy music scene.

Merrillville, Indiana death metal act formed in 2018, bringing a straight-ahead, no-frills approach to the genre from the industrial northwest corner of the state. Their Bandcamp handle — wretchedfate — suggests a lyrical preoccupation with doom and inevitability that fits squarely within the death metal tradition.

Charlotte, North Carolina melodic technical deathcore and death metal band formed in 2018, known for intricate guitar work and the kind of precision-engineered brutality that defines the technical end of the deathcore spectrum. One of the Southeast's more accomplished acts in the technically demanding hybrid of deathcore and death metal.

Silver Spring, Maryland doom metal outfit formed in 2018, drawing from the slow-moving, grief-laden tradition of the genre from the Washington D.C. suburb. Their sound favors crushing weight over speed, embracing the long-form misery that doom demands.

Wretched Anomaly is a Slam/Brutal Death Metal and Deathcore band from Santiago, Chile, formed in 2023. The band released their self-titled debut EP in July 2024, a six-track effort, and followed it with a remix single and the 2025 single S.K.V.N.K.

Dayton, Ohio black metal project formed in 2024, emerging from a Rust Belt city with a history of extreme music and channeling the primitive, cultish energy that defines the rawer end of American black metal. One of the newest acts in the file, still early in carving out their identity in the Midwest underground.

San Diego death metal and grindcore band formed in 2023, operating out of Southern California's second-largest city with a sound that fuses grindcore's hyper-compressed violence with the riff architecture of old-school death metal. A young act already tapping into the city's historically fertile underground extreme scene.

A black metal outfit from Charleston, South Carolina, formed in 2022, dealing in raw, abrasive compositions that lean into the uglier end of the genre's American underground. Still early in their trajectory, they carry the cold, stripped-down aesthetic typical of the US black metal tape-trading circuit.