Riverside, California black metal project that emerged in 2025 with two EPs in quick succession. Comes the Green Man and Journey Through Mist and Mountain deal in nature-worshipping atmospheric black metal, drawing unlikely inspiration from the Inland Empire's sun-scorched landscapes.

Pasadena black metal project whose 2021 single features a vaporwave-styled title in full-width Unicode characters. A collision of internet aesthetics and black metal that signals something stranger and more modern than the ancient name suggests.

Newport, Oregon black metal act drawing from the Pacific Northwest's grey, rain-soaked coastline. Their 2025 EP Winter Holocaust channels the brutal isolation of Oregon's small coastal towns into frigid, atmospheric black metal.

Oakland speed metal project from the California underground.

Orange County doom and heavy metal project whose 2024 demo Demos That Tell The Same Tales hints at a band mining the past for eternal truths. Irvine may be synonymous with suburban sprawl, but Ancient Ruins finds weight and darkness in the gaps between the strip malls.

Chicago heavy metal / nwothm project from the Illinois underground.

Florence, Kentucky black metal project operating from the outer edge of the Cincinnati metro area. Minimal information, maximum mystique — the kind of shadowy underground project that keeps black metal's obscurantist tradition alive.

Denver doom metal project from the Colorado underground.

Los Angeles thrash metal act whose 2015 debut Forever In Hell delivers exactly what the title promises — relentless, fire-breathing thrash with no escape hatch. A contribution to LA's endless thrash revival.