A Toledo institution since 1993, Godhead carry the weight of death metal's early tradition in every riff — slow-grinding at times, explosive at others, with the kind of staying power only decades of dedication can forge.

Columbus, Ohio's Hadak Ura is one of the more unorthodox acts to emerge from the Midwest's extreme metal scene — a grinding black metal project that fuses the frozen hatred of black metal with the frenetic velocity of grindcore since 2015.

Cleveland's Hammr channel the blackened speed metal of the early 1980s with a punk-soaked fury that fits perfectly in a city with a long history of no-bullshit heavy music. Active since 2018 and showing no signs of slowing.

Out of Wellsville, Ohio, Haxxan have channeled raw, atmospheric black metal into their work since 2017, building on a tradition of American underground black metal that prizes sincerity and darkness over production values. Their Bandcamp presence signals a deliberately lo-fi, DIY aesthetic.

Cleveland black/thrash outfit Headless Rats channel the rabid, scabrous energy of first-wave black metal and Motorhead-indebted punk thrash into a sound that's filthy and fast in equal measure. Since 2014 they've been a reliable source of dangerous, unpolished extremity from the Rust Belt.

Born from the rust belt shadows of East Liverpool, Ohio, Heidentum channels a raw and ancient fury through primitive black metal that feels ripped straight from northern European soil. Formed in 2021, the project embraces pagan hostility with an American grimness all its own.

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Akron's Hieros draw on the melodic black metal tradition to create music that is sweeping without being saccharine, atmospheric without surrendering aggression. Since 2020 the project has built a sound that sits somewhere between the triumphant and the grim.

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.