Pawnee, Illinois black metal project whose 2015 debut Sobrwydd a Disgyblaeth — Welsh for 'sobriety and discipline' — channels Celtic mythology from the flatlands of central Illinois. An unexpected marriage of Brythonic folklore and American underground black metal.

Anna Fiori is a symphonic power metal act from Mexico City built around vocalist Anna Fiori, who was born in 1991 and began performing in musical theater at the age of four. The project, formed in 2010 and signed to Silent Stream, has released two full-lengths — "Magna Mater" (2013) and "In Ohtli Tonalli" (2017) — alongside several singles and EPs exploring themes of life, fears, and Mexican folklore, and Fiori has performed internationally throughout Latin America.

Point Pleasant, West Virginia progressive metal project active since 2013. Their self-titled debut and a Joy Division cover reveal a band with eclectic taste, operating from the small Appalachian town made famous by the Mothman legend.

Portland, Oregon NWOTHM act with a name that demands the Lone Star State join the Pacific Northwest. Three releases since 2016 including The Delta Variant deliver classic heavy metal with a wry sensibility, proving traditional metal thrives in Portland's anything-goes musical ecosystem.

Death metal project of unknown origin whose 2012 debut them strips the genre to its barest essentials. Lowercase title, no location, no biography — just destruction.

Carbondale, Illinois metalcore act with remarkable longevity, spanning 2005 to 2018. From their debut Images of Disgust to the much later Perpetual Fracture, they've endured through the genre's boom-and-bust cycle, anchored in Southern Illinois University's college-town scene.

Lumberton melodic death metal project from the North Carolina underground.

Los Angeles death metal act whose 2022 debut Submission To Annihilation delivers exactly what the title promises. Unrelenting, single-minded brutality from a city that helped invent extreme music on the West Coast.

Chicago thrash metal outfit with a substantial seven-release catalog since 2008. Albums like Extinction and The Undivided Wholeness of All Things trace an evolution from pure thrash fury into more ambitious compositional territory, all anchored by the Windy City's relentless energy.