Cleveland's Gatlin started out delivering heavy/power metal with fists clenched and feet planted, though their trajectory has since bent toward hard rock — a range that speaks to their melodic roots and willingness to evolve. Formed in 2020, they bring a muscular energy native to the Rust Belt.

Formed in Dayton, Ohio in 2013, Karnage fuse power metal's soaring melodicism with the aggressive crunch of thrash, delivering anthemic riffs alongside plenty of speed and bite.

Cleveland's Montez formed in 2021 and play speed/power metal with the breakneck intensity the genre demands — sharp, melodic, and built on a tradition that the Midwest has quietly sustained since the 1980s.

Cincinnati's Mournblade fuse the soaring hooks of power metal with the propulsive aggression of thrash, arriving on the scene in 2023 with an energetic attack that nods to classic US metal traditions.

Cleveland, Ohio's MSOD blur the lines between power, thrash, and traditional heavy metal, pulling from each genre's strengths to craft a hard-hitting, versatile attack that reflects the city's deeply rooted metallic blue-collar heritage since 2020.

Cleveland, Ohio's Mystik formed in 2018 and blend power and thrash metal into a high-energy combination — the melodic ambition and vocal hooks of power metal fused with the speed and aggression of thrash, giving their music a driving, hook-laden intensity.

Necromancing the Stone formed in Ohio in 2014 as a supergroup drawing members from Arsis, The Black Dahlia Murder, The Absence, and Brimstone Coven, signed to Metal Blade Records. The band plays melodic death metal and power metal fused with thrash, taking a self-consciously 1980s-influenced approach that references Iron Maiden, Megadeth, and Anthrax. Their fantasy-themed songwriting and high-energy musicianship draw on the collective pedigree of their constituent members.

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Cleveland's Olathia blend power metal's soaring ambition with metalcore's aggression and heavy metal's anthemic foundation, landing in a space that's cinematic and hard-hitting all at once. Since 2015, they've been building on the city's deep heavy music legacy in their own melodic, forceful way.