Portland, Maine's Hessian carry the banner of traditional heavy metal with the roughhewn conviction of a band uninterested in trends. Active since 2014, they write the kind of riff-forward music that feels like it emerged fully formed from a forgotten decade.

Philadelphia's Hessian strip the genre back to its most feral components — black metal ferocity, speed metal momentum, and the raw bite of early thrash. Since 2014 they've operated at the intersection where aggression meets velocity.

Atlanta's Hessian favor the unfiltered and abrasive end of black metal, trading atmosphere for confrontation in the raw black tradition. The project dispenses with polish entirely, prioritizing a corroded, static-soaked hostility.

Named for Hawthorne's condemned outsider, Kansas City's Hester Prynne channel that defiant energy into a brutal blend of deathcore and straight-ahead death metal. Active since 2009, they pair pulverizing low-end chug with genuine death metal menace.

Venomous Atmospheric Black Metal from Fort Wayne, Indiana/San Antonio.

Seattle's Hewa arrived in 2018 with a stripped approach to black metal that suits the Pacific Northwest's damp and darkened character. Cold, deliberate, and unornamented, the project draws on the foundational grammar of the genre without borrowing its aesthetics wholesale.

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Hex Crow is a heavy/speed metal power trio from Bucaramanga, Colombia, founded in late 2015 by Daniel Mantilla, Felipe Ortega, and Sebastián López, all veterans of local bands including Hatred and Perjurio. The band released their debut demo Demons, Witches & Loud Noises before issuing the full-length Forward to the Past in December 2019, a limited cassette release through Vermin Records and All For One Heavy Metal United. Their sound blends the raw power of traditional heavy metal with relentless speed metal energy.