Torn in Half from Newark, Ohio formed in 2020, delivering death metal from a small midwestern city with a no-frills, underground-first mentality. Their presence in a region far from major scene centers reflects the decentralized character of American death metal's grassroots network.

Cleveland, Ohio's Tortuary operates in classic death metal territory, drawing on the Rust Belt's blue-collar brutality to deliver stripped-down, no-frills extreme metal.

Hamilton, Ohio funeral doom outfit Torture Wheel have been grinding out some of the genre's most punishing slow-motion heaviness since 2005, favoring glacial tempos and suffocating atmospheres that put them squarely in the tradition of the genre's bleakest practitioners.

Columbus, Ohio's Traitors Return to Earth have been sinking deep into stoner-sludge-doom's tar pit heaviness since 2011, layering fuzz and feedback over glacial tempos and a persistent sense of weighted despair.

Cincinnati's Trash Knight have been flying the crossover thrash flag since 2019, blending the speed and aggression of classic Bay Area thrash with the working-class punch of hardcore punk.

Ohio brutal death metal and grindcore act formed in 2020, dealing in short, violent bursts of distorted noise with the surgical precision of death metal riffing beneath the chaos. Their name does not oversell the filth.

Formed in 2022 out of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, Trenchgoat bring a hard rock backbone to their blend of heavy and thrash metal, landing somewhere between throwback aggression and arena-adjacent hooks. They're a young band with a sound that leans on the visceral pleasure of the riff.

Triangulum is a black metal band from Cleveland, Ohio, formed in 2017, drawing on the raw and atmospheric strains of the genre to produce cold, abrasive sonic landscapes.

Progressive death metal band from Toledo, Ohio, active since 2013, combining the technical ambition of progressive metal with the aggression and heaviness of death metal.