A Washington State act formed in 2019, Wraithborn fuse the abrasive extremes of death metal and black metal with the modern heaviness of deathcore, creating music that's equal parts atmospheric menace and crushing brutality. Their approach refuses easy categorization, pulling influences across the extreme metal spectrum into something deliberately unpredictable.

Tampa's Wraithkiller arrived in 2021 carrying the torch of old-school thrash in one of American metal's most storied cities, bringing riff-forward aggression and tight, punishing rhythm work to a tradition the Bay Area and Florida scenes defined decades ago. Short on sentimentality and long on speed, they make clear that thrash metal still has teeth.

Rising from Flint, Michigan in 2020, Wraithlord channel the bleak atmosphere of their surroundings into cold, unadorned black metal that bears the marks of a city with little patience for pretense. The project leans into the raw and the grim, delivering music that feels less composed than conjured.

Formed in Orlando in 2015, Wrapped in Pale bring black metal to a corner of Florida not usually associated with the genre's frozen aesthetics, translating the music's trademark bleakness into something that thrives under oppressive heat and humidity. Their sound is austere and uncompromising, built on tremolo-laden riffs and an atmosphere of persistent dread.

Orange County, California thrash outfit formed in 2017, wielding the kind of aggressive, riff-forward attack that draws from the Bay Area playbook while staying rooted in the SoCal underground. Their name telegraphs a dual-edged intensity that carries through their punishing rhythmic assault.

Wrath of Crocell is a black metal solo project from Quito, Ecuador, formed in 2021 by a musician named Panos who handles all instruments. The project released its debut album The Arise of Crocell in 2021, exploring themes of cult ideology, genocide, and the corrupting extremes of human behavior through an independent, underground black metal approach.

Wrath of Logarius formed in San Francisco, California, having evolved from the project Martyr Logarius, and signed with Season of Mist ahead of their 2023 EP Necrotic Assimilation. The band describes their approach as "formless black metal," navigating between raw black metal, brutal death metal, and post-metal textures without settling into a fixed genre identity. Named after the boss character from the video game Bloodborne, the project earned early attention for its layered and eerie compositional sensibility within the Season of Mist underground division.

Phoenix-based melodic death metal act founded in 2020, blending the hook-driven melodies of the Gothenburg school with the blunt force of American death metal. The Arizona desert heat seems to fuel a sound that oscillates between atmospheric guitar harmonies and full-throttle brutality.

Richmond, Virginia black/death metal project formed in 2022, fusing the cold dissonance of black metal with the visceral heaviness of death metal in a city that has long bred uncompromising extreme music. Their Bandcamp handle — wrathbearerde — hints at a Germanic black metal influence woven into their approach.