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.

Out of Helena, Ohio, Wicked Aura have been building their take on traditional heavy metal since 2016 — a small-town approach to the genre that strips the music back to essentials: heavy riffs, earnest vocals, and a commitment to the form that doesn't require a major market to validate it. They're part of a quiet but real current of Midwest acts keeping classic metal alive in unexpected corners of the country.

Perrysburg, Ohio's Winter Heart have been developing atmospheric black metal since 2013, embracing the genre's most expansive, ambient-leaning qualities to craft music that is less about shock and more about immersion. The flat, grey landscapes of northwest Ohio make for a fitting backdrop for this kind of cold, contemplative black metal.

Cincinnati's Winterhymn have been crafting folk metal since 2011, blending the genre's traditional instrumentation and pagan-inspired themes with solid heavy metal foundations. Ohio isn't the first place you'd imagine for folk metal, but Winterhymn have carved out a loyal following by taking the genre's epic, communal spirit seriously over more than a decade of activity.

Formed in Akron, Ohio in 2022, Witch Dagger deal in the slow, heavy currency of stoner doom — thick riffs dragged through tar pits and left to bake in the Rust Belt sun. Still a young outfit, they have wasted little time establishing a sound rooted in the low-end traditions of Sleep and Electric Wizard. Akron's industrial grit seeps into every plodding, fuzz-drenched note.

Cleveland's Witchery are a death metal outfit active since 2011, drawing on the city's long and storied tradition of heavy underground music. Cleveland has produced some of the American Midwest's most unforgiving metal, and this band slots into that lineage with no-frills death metal built for aggression over atmosphere. The shared Bandcamp handle with their Arizona namesake makes them easy to confuse, but the death metal pedigree here is distinctly its own.