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.

Painesville, Ohio's Hangnail have been grinding away since 1998, their thrash and grindcore roots keeping them lean and mean across nearly three decades of relentless, no-frills extremity.

Cincinnati's Heathen Knight throw thrash, death metal, and grindcore into a single chaotic vessel and let the collision speak for itself. Since 2016, the Ohio act has favored brutish efficiency over nuance, making them one of the Midwest's more reliably ferocious crossover outfits.

Formed in Mentor, Ohio in 1993, Hemdale were a grind-gore band whose abrasive extremity and relentless live performances earned them a significant underground following before a 1997 split. The band's 1996 split release with Exhumed, In the Name of Gore, remains a key document of the era, and their network extended through drummer Craig Rowe's Visceral Productions, which played a role in the early careers of Nile, Exhumed, and Dying Fetus. Hemdale reformed in 2013 with vocalist and guitarist Matthew Rositano as the sole original member.