Providence, Rhode Island sludge metal band Howl formed in 2006 and signed to Relapse Records in 2009, releasing their debut EP that same year to positive reviews from Decibel Magazine. Their first full-length Full of Hell appeared in 2010, followed by Bloodlines (2013), produced by Zeus and reflecting years of touring alongside Saint Vitus, Kylesa, and Pentagram. The band occupies a well-worn but convincingly executed space between sludge, stoner doom, and Southern-tinged heavy rock.

Cincinnati, Ohio's Howling have been pushing cold, stripped-down black metal since 2015, capturing something feral and windswept in the urban rust belt context. The city's industrial undertone seeps into every track.

Named for the Norse corpse-swallowing eagle at the edge of the world, Concord, New Hampshire's Hræsvelgr have been playing black metal steeped in heathen mythology since 2016. Their sound is as austere and uncompromising as the name suggests.

Amarillo, Texas's Hubris have been bringing metalcore's emotional intensity to the Texas Panhandle since 2015, where the flat horizon and punishing wind seem to breed a certain grim determination. Melodic but never soft.

Washington state's Hulder is a solo black metal act named for the seductive forest spirits of Norse folklore, weaving atmospheric darkness with melodic intensity since 2018. Their debut earned wide acclaim for its confident grip on the second-wave tradition.

Mankato, Minnesota's Human Bashing have been delivering brutal death metal with unambiguous intent since 2014. Technically punishing and lyrically unsparing, they lean into the genre's most extreme traditions with earnest conviction.

Virginia's Human Corpse Abuse arrived in 2022 as a death-grind outfit with a name designed to offend and music calibrated to match — short blasts of putrid brutality with no decorative ambitions whatsoever.

Fresh out of Chicago in 2025, Human Disgust bring a city-worn contempt to straightforward death metal with the kind of focused venom that only a scene as competitive as Chicago can produce. Early and already mean.

Human Misery is a deathgrind band formed in 2021 in Piedecuesta, Colombia. The band released the demo Corrosión del orden in 2022 followed by the demo Torned Apart in 2023, and appeared on the split compilation Grindcore (Isn't) Mediocre in 2024.