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.

Cleveland, Ohio death metal unit formed in 2013, drawing from the Midwest's blue-collar underground to deliver punishing, no-frills death metal steeped in the tradition of the genre's American roots.

Cleveland death metal stalwarts formed in 2014, rooted in the old-school death metal tradition with a sound that favors putrid, mid-paced heaviness alongside the city's well-established extreme metal pedigree.

Named for Tolkien's monstrous spider, Cleveland's Shelob spins cold, atmospheric black metal with a predatory patience, building dense webs of tremolo and darkness since 2011.

Cincinnati heavy metal band Shocker have been playing hard rock-inflected traditional metal since 2013, drawing from the deep well of classic American heavy metal while keeping the sound grounded and direct in the Midwest tradition.

Cleveland's Shok Paris carry the torch for Midwestern heavy and power metal, reviving the band under that name in 2020 and returning to the melodic, fist-pumping anthemic metal that made the original lineup a cult favorite in the Ohio heavy metal underground.

Columbus, Ohio's Shores of Elysium have been working the boundary between melodic death metal and deathcore since 2012, combining memorable melodic hooks with the heaviness and aggression that define Ohio's prolific extreme metal output.