Tampa/Tucson black metal and death metal project spanning Florida and Arizona. The name evokes solstice rituals in two of America's hottest cities — seeking cold in the desert and the tropics.

Fredericksburg, Virginia melodic death metal project. The autobiographical suffering implied in the name adds personal weight to Scandinavian-influenced extremity.

A Mutilated Mind is a deathcore band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, releasing a four-track EP in 2021 featuring tracks titled "Cold," "Rotting," and "Vile Impulsive Cycles." The band deals in bleak, oppressive deathcore that channels psychological anguish into crushing breakdowns. Their music reflects the darker currents running through Philly's heavy music underground.

A Night at the Chalet is a deathcore band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, active since 2010 with two releases totaling 18 tracks. The band's music features horror-driven themes with tracks like "Disgusting Images of Reality" and "Forever Entombed Amongst the Catacombs," delivered through relentless breakdowns and guttural vocals. Their name — evoking a cozy retreat turned nightmare — captures the band's juxtaposition of the mundane and the horrific.

A Notion of Silence is a progressive metal band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, releasing a 10-track album in 2022. With songs like "Thaw," "Stellar Waltz," and "Journey's End," the band crafts atmospheric, dynamic progressive metal that balances technical ambition with melodic sensibility. Their debut positions them within Pittsburgh's tradition of thoughtful, well-crafted heavy music.

A Novelist is a progressive death metal act from Lafayette, Louisiana. The band's output includes two full-lengths — 2015's "Portraits" and an instrumental version of "Folie" released in 2019 — showcasing intricate arrangements and technical proficiency within a death metal framework.

A Pale Horse Named Death is a doom and gothic metal band from New York City. The project draws from the same bleak, atmospheric well as Type O Negative and Life of Agony, with their 2019 full-length "When The World Becomes Undone" delivering thirteen tracks of crushing, melancholic heaviness.

A Patient Weapon is a progressive power metal band from Antioch, California. In 2024, the band released both an EP and a full-length debut "What Makes a Blade," arriving fully formed with soaring melodies and precision musicianship.

Conceived by Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan and guitarist Billy Howerdel in Los Angeles in 1999, A Perfect Circle channels art-rock ambition through a darker, more melodic lens than Keenan's primary band. Their debut 'Mer de Noms' became the highest-charting debut for a rock band at the time, followed by the politically charged 'Thirteenth Step' and 'Eat the Elephant.' The project represents Keenan's more introspective and emotionally vulnerable side, wrapped in Howerdel's lush, cinematic guitar work.