200 Stab Wounds is a death metal band from Cleveland, Ohio, who have rapidly become one of the most talked-about acts in modern American death metal since forming in 2020. With tracks like "Maggot Casket" and "She Was Already Dead," the band delivers filthy, old-school-inspired death metal with a slamming edge. Signed to Metal Blade Records, they have brought Cleveland's brutal death metal scene to international attention.

A la Carte is a death metal band from Lima, Ohio, serving up gore-themed brutality with a culinary twist since 2020. Track titles like "Soup Dejour," "Aborted Eggs Benedict," and "Hymen Drizzled Hotcakes" combine food service vocabulary with graphic anatomical horror. Across two releases and 15 tracks, the band has carved out a uniquely nauseating niche in Ohio's death metal scene.

A Life Less Alive is a death metal project that originated in Irvine, California before relocating to Avon Lake, Ohio. The cross-country trajectory reflects the transient nature of underground metal projects, carrying West Coast technicality to the Midwest. Limited releases suggest a project still finding its footing between coasts.

Abduction is a heavy and thrash metal band from Danbury, Connecticut. Since 2016, the band has released a full-length, two EPs, and a demo, blending high-energy thrash riffs with hard rock swagger.

Death metal project that migrated from Tampa to Pittsburgh to Columbus — three cities, each with deep metal roots. Named after the river of woe in Greek mythology.

Age of Rage is a death metal project from Marion, Ohio. With five releases including the sprawling forty-track "SKALD Covers" and the eighteen-track "INSIDEME," the project favors quantity and ambition over restraint.

Ahriman is a death/black metal band from Toledo, Ohio named after the Zoroastrian spirit of destruction. Active since 1997, the band has released four recordings over twenty-five years, with Hungarian-titled tracks like "Bőrkoporsó" suggesting Eastern European cultural connections.

Uniontown, Ohio death metal outfit whose 2005 debut Human Meat Gluttony announces its intentions from the title alone. Brutal, unsubtle, and committed to the gory end of the death metal spectrum.

Dayton death metal project from the Ohio underground.