Wakrat is a Los Angeles trio formed in 2015 by Tim Commerford, bassist of Rage Against the Machine, alongside French guitarist Laurent Grangeon and Swiss drummer Mathias Wakrat, whose surname provided the band's name. The band plays aggressive, politically charged punk and alternative metal with clear DNA from Commerford's previous work, and released their self-titled debut album in 2016 after debuting live at the Viper Room in September 2015.

Walls of Jericho formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1998, fronted by vocalist Candace Kucsulain, and became a significant force in early 2000s metalcore through a sound that balanced old-school hardcore, thrash metal, and the chug-driven heaviness of the genre's emerging wave. The band released a series of albums on Trustkill Records, including All Hail the Dead (2004) and With Devils Amongst Us All (2006), before a lengthy hiatus and return with No One Can Save You from Yourself (2016). Kucsulain's commanding presence made Walls of Jericho one of the most visible female-fronted acts in the hardcore and metalcore underground.

Wampyric Rites is a raw black metal band from Loja, Ecuador, formed in 2019 by members operating under the monikers Wampyric Strigoi and Eblis Destructor. Their music centers on themes of vampirism and darkness, drawing from the primitive end of the black metal spectrum, and they have released a steady stream of demos, splits, and EPs since their inception, culminating in the full-length debut Under the Tragic Fullmoon of the Vampire in 2026 on Inferna Profundus Records.

Originally an Oakland band on Ripple Music, relocated to Austin in 2020. Two albums of Pentagram and Deep Purple-inspired heavy rock.

War Curse formed in Cincinnati, Ohio in 2013, playing old-school thrash metal with a contemporary edge that draws on Bay Area and Teutonic traditions. The band released their debut material through Static Tension Recordings before signing to Blacklight Media/Metal Blade Records, under which they released Eradication (2019) and Confession (2023), steadily building a reputation as one of the more consistent acts in the current American thrash underground.

Formed by founding members of grindcore legends Insect Warfare, including drummer Dobber Beverly. Named after the Bolt Thrower album.

Formed in 2017 out of Arcata in California's remote Humboldt County, War Möth traffics in pure heavy metal with the isolated, self-reliant energy that comes from being far outside any major scene. Their name — a nocturnal thing drawn to destruction — suits the deliberate, no-frills approach they bring to traditional metal riffing. There is something unpolished and genuinely hard-bitten about what they do.

War Prison formed in Tucson in 2019, fusing the caustic intensity of Sonoran Desert hardcore with the surgical brutality of death metal. The band operates where pit-ready aggression and outright death metal violence are functionally indistinguishable — every riff an instrument of damage. Tucson's scene has long punched above its weight, and War Prison carries that tradition forward with no apology.

Coming out of Vinton, Virginia in 2025, War Theory arrived fully formed with a blend of thrash, death, and groove metal that sounds like it has been cooking for years. Their approach favors the visceral forward momentum of thrash, thickened by death metal's ruthlessness and given a punishing mid-tempo swing by groove. A young band with a clear-eyed sense of exactly the kind of metal they want to make.