Columbus, Ohio grindcore and death metal band formed in 2016, fusing the genre's velocity and crust punk's anarchic rawness with death metal's low-end devastation. Rooted in Columbus's scrappy DIY underground, Voice of Crows produce music with both political sharpness and physical force, treating brevity and brutality as equally essential tools.

Formed in Cleveland in 2021, Voices of the Damned fuse the punishing weight of death metal with groove metal's rhythmic swagger, building songs around thick, locked-in riffs and a relentless sense of momentum. The Cleveland scene's blue-collar aggression runs through everything they do, grounding the brutality in something physical and immediate. They're a young band arriving fully formed.

Ohio's Void Meditation Cult have been active since 2013, carving out a distinct space within American black metal through music that prioritizes atmosphere and ritual over aggression and speed. The "cult" in the name is accurate — this is insular, purposeful black metal built more for immersion than shock, concerned with trance states and darkness as sustained conditions rather than momentary extremity. One of the more interesting and long-running underground black metal acts in the Midwest.

Columbus, Ohio's Voidgazer formed in 2024, working in heavy metal and hard rock territory — a band grounded in traditional heavy metal songwriting rather than extreme subgenres, focused on building songs that carry actual weight without necessarily reaching for maximum brutality. Columbus has a long tradition of no-nonsense Midwestern rock and metal, and Voidgazer fit that lineage. A young band finding their footing in familiar but well-loved territory.

Cincinnati's Voidwitch started in 2023 with a black metal sound that carries the genre's expected malice but channels it through a witchcraft-inflected aesthetic that sharpens the occult menace. Raw production, cold riffing, and vocal delivery that sounds like something summoned rather than performed — the Ohio underground context gives their work an isolation that suits the material. Still early in their existence but already operating with clear thematic vision.

Cleveland's Vulgar Devils have been playing no-frills heavy metal since 2016, carrying the torch for the blue-collar hard rock grit that once defined the Ohio scene. Their sound is rooted in the classic tradition — riffs first, attitude always.

Toledo, Ohio black metal project formed in 2020, invoking Slavic mythological imagery through a raw and atmospheric approach to the genre. The name references Veles, the underworld deity of Slavic paganism, suggesting a thematic focus on death, nature, and ancient spiritual darkness.

Columbus, Ohio band weaving Gothic gloom into melodic death metal, pairing the melancholic atmosphere of the Gothic tradition with driving riffs and death metal aggression. Active since 2022, they occupy the darkly romantic space between mid-era Paradise Lost and Scandinavian melodeath.

War Curse formed in Cincinnati, Ohio in 2013, playing old-school thrash metal with a contemporary edge that draws on Bay Area and Teutonic traditions. The band released their debut material through Static Tension Recordings before signing to Blacklight Media/Metal Blade Records, under which they released Eradication (2019) and Confession (2023), steadily building a reputation as one of the more consistent acts in the current American thrash underground.