Columbus, Ohio's Encenathrakh dismantle death metal from the inside out, fusing avant-garde dissonance with technical brutal ferocity into something genuinely unsettling. Since 2013, they've occupied a singular, confrontational space at the extreme edge of the genre.

Tiffin, Ohio's Extinction Agenda arrived in 2023 fusing brutal death metal and deathcore into something maximally heavy and deliberately relentless. The small-city Ohio origin underscores an underground work ethic — this is music built from the ground up with no expectation of easy attention.

Ohio's Methamphetamines are a brand new entry in the slam and brutal death metal underground, formed in 2024 with the express purpose of delivering the genre's most extreme elements without compromise. Their name stakes out an unambiguous corner of the underground — one where guttural vocals, down-tuned chug, and percussive slam breakdowns are the entire point. Still in their earliest days, they represent a new generation of American bands keeping brutal death's most visceral traditions alive.

Dayton, Ohio's Moiscus operate at the nastier end of brutal death metal and goregrind, where short, violent songs and putrid aesthetics are the entire point. Formed in 2020, they carry on the Midwest's tradition of no-frills extremity with a particular focus on gross-out visceral impact.

Ohio brutal death metal outfit Mortuary Ghoul, active since 2020, specialize in the genre's most pulverizing and grotesque end — slamming rhythms, guttural vocals, and a relentless devotion to brutality from deep in the Midwest underground.

Dayton, Ohio's Murderman traffic in brutal death metal and goregrind, piling on guttural extremity with the kind of single-minded dedication that defines the most uncompromising end of Ohio's underground. Formed in 2020, they operate in a city with deep roots in both punk and metal.

Cincinnati's Nobody have been cultivating post-black metal introspection since 2018, threading atmospheric density and emotional weight through the black metal framework in ways that feel genuinely searching. Operating under a Bandcamp presence shared with the striking "videsuicide" handle, they push into the more melancholic and expansive post-black territory, where blast and tremolo give way to texture and mood.

Dayton, Ohio's Putrid Stu is a goregrind and brutal death metal project that leans hard into the absurdist, splatter-film side of the genre — a one-person or small-band affair that has been churning out crude, blasting extremity since 2018. The Dayton underground has produced some fierce acts, and Putrid Stu fits squarely in that tradition of low-budget, high-intensity noise.

Skag is a Dayton, Ohio brutal death metal and grindcore band formed in 2022, delivering punishing low-end heaviness punctuated by grind-tempo blasting and guttural vocal extremity. They represent the working-class Midwest underground tradition of no-frills, no-mercy extreme metal.