Columbus, Ohio's Sanguisugabogg have brought a gleefully grotesque, slam-influenced approach to death metal that revels in absurdity and extremity with equal enthusiasm, earning a deal with Century Media Records on the strength of their viral momentum. Their debut 'Tortured Whole' and follow-up 'Homicidal Ecstasy' deliver lurching, downtuned brutality drenched in toilet humor and over-the-top gore, channeling the spirit of early Cannibal Corpse through a distinctly modern, meme-savvy sensibility. Their rapid rise from underground slam oddity to festival headliner reflects the new generation's appetite for death metal that refuses to take itself too seriously.

Parma, Ohio's Sanhedrin have been pursuing death metal with no-frills directness since 2015, building in the industrial shadow of Cleveland's storied heavy music history. Their approach favors blunt force over ornamentation — death metal as practiced by a band that has no interest in softening the genre's essential violence.

Cincinnati, Ohio's Scab Hag formed in 2021 and carved out a niche in straightforward, no-frills death metal in the classic mold — grimy riffs, guttural vocals, and a sound that doesn't reach for complexity so much as it reaches for your throat. Their name suggests both ugliness and irreverence, two qualities that map cleanly onto the music.

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Dayton, Ohio's Scrotal Erosion arrived in 2024 trafficking in goregrind and death metal with the kind of grotesque specificity that the gore-adjacent subgenre demands — absurdist extremity, medical-horror song concepts, and a sound that prioritizes repulsiveness as an aesthetic virtue. Dayton has a quietly rich tradition of underground metal and hardcore, and Scrotal Erosion continues that tradition in its most extreme, least marketable form. New to the scene but clearly committed to the bit.

Akron's Self Loathing formed in 2018 and operate at the volatile intersection of death metal and hardcore punk, bringing the blunt-force aggression of the latter to the low-end brutality of the former. The band's crossover approach is rooted in the Rust Belt tradition of music that doesn't ask permission — short, crushing, and direct. They're part of a small but committed Ohio underground scene that treats genre boundaries as obstacles to be demolished.

Ohio-based Sepulcher formed in 2024 operating at the violent intersection of death metal and grindcore. Their music combines the technicality and brutality of death metal song structures with the explosive, short-burst intensity of grindcore, resulting in something chaotic and unrelenting. As a brand-new act they have already staked out an extreme and punishing corner of the Midwestern underground.

Columbus, Ohio's Shanghai operate in traditional heavy metal territory, drawing on the classic genre template while filtering it through the Midwest's straightforward, unpretentious approach to hard rock and metal since forming in 2017. Their Bandcamp handle — shanghaidoom — hints at an earthier, heavier influence lurking beneath the heavy metal foundation.

Cincinnati's Shankable Offense came out of Ohio's heavy music underground in 2020 playing crossover thrash that splits the difference between the pit-ready chaos of hardcore and the technical precision of thrash metal. Their name signals a deliberately irreverent attitude carried through their fast, aggressive approach to songwriting.