Chicago's Worwyk have been keeping the torch of classic heavy metal burning since 1989, outlasting trends and genre fads with stubborn dedication to the fundamentals. Their sound draws on the blue-collar grit of the Midwest and the timeless appeal of crunching riffs and soaring vocals.

New Bedford, Massachusetts's Wound Man fuse sludge metal's crushing weight with powerviolence's white-knuckle aggression, channeling the post-industrial decay of coastal New England into short, suffocating bursts of noise since 2013. The band's cross-genre approach makes each release feel like a trap door opening beneath you.

please update this band

Atlanta's Wounds of Recollection emerged in 2014 from the intersection of funeral doom and black metal, building monolithic walls of grief before expanding into post-black metal and post-rock territory. The band's evolution traces an arc from suffocating heaviness toward something more expansive and bittersweet, without ever fully letting go of its funeral roots.

Wovenwar formed in Southern California in 2013 as a direct consequence of the arrest of As I Lay Dying vocalist Tim Lambesis for soliciting the murder of his wife, with four of that band's remaining members — guitarists Nick Hipa and Phil Sgrosso, bassist Josh Gilbert, and drummer Jordan Mancino — joining Oh, Sleeper vocalist Shane Blay. The group's self-titled debut (2014, Metal Blade) and follow-up Honor Is Dead (2016) pursued melodic heavy metal and alternative metalcore territory, finding a substantial audience before the original members returned to As I Lay Dying in 2018.

San Francisco's Wrack have been hauling sludge and doom through the Bay Area underground since 2016, blending the city's storied tradition of heavy music with slow, corrosive riffs built for endurance rather than speed. Their sound evokes the weight of the fog-laden coastline — dense, unhurried, and unrelenting.

Indiana's Wraith formed in 2017 to channel the raw energy of blackened speed metal and thrash punk into something that feels genuinely dangerous. Drawing from the crossover spirit of the 1980s and electrifying it with black metal venom, they play with the kind of aggressive simplicity that leaves little room for anything but forward motion.

Raw Death / Black Metal out of Texas.

The dungeon synth and ambient black metal project of Nick Superchi from Camas, Washington, Wraith Knight conjures Tolkien-inspired soundscapes of chilly beauty and melancholic grandeur. Influenced by Summoning and Tangerine Dream, releases like 'Deep in the Dungeons of the Dragonlord' transport listeners into immersive fantasy realms built on synth and atmosphere.