West Texas oil country might not seem like fertile ground for brutal death metal, but Midland's Emotionless Laceration have been at work since 2019 building a punishing catalog of gutturals and downtuned devastation in one of the state's most isolated cities.

San Antonio's Emperial Massacre have been delivering blunt-force death metal since 2013, holding a consistent spot in one of Texas's most underrated regional scenes through sheer persistence and heavy, unforgiving songwriting.

Dallas death metal unit Empty Shell have been excavating brutality from the Texas underground since 2014, delivering pulverizing riff work with the no-frills directness the genre demands.

Dallas' End Times evolved from hardcore roots into a volatile blend of death metal, thrash, and hardcore crossover — the kind of band whose evolution mirrors the city's own heavy music scene expanding outward in every direction. Formed in 2010, they've grown harder and heavier with time.

Savage Brutal Death Metal from Rio Grande Valley.

Houston death/black metal act marching through grim territory since 2017, channeling the occult density of war metal into something more deliberate and ritualistic. They are part of a strong Houston extreme metal underground that takes darkness seriously.

Austin funeral doom metal act named for the sleeping shepherd of Greek myth, conjuring extraordinarily slow, grief-saturated music since 2024. In a city known for every other genre, they carve out space for the most patient and mournful strain of extreme metal.

TXDM unit that surfaced in 2022 with the 'Devoid of Conscience' demo. Old school death metal filth in the Texas tradition.

Ripping Technical Brutal Death Metal from San Antonio.