Austin stoner/heavy rock. Massive riffs with a Southern groove.

San Antonio's Earthen has been operating in the heavy doom metal tradition since 2005, a Texas band that moves at a funeral pace and draws on the long shadows the state's harder rock history casts over everything beneath it.

This Texas Edge of Chaos take a different angle entirely — neoclassical shred and heavy metal technique, guitar-forward and precision-minded, formed in 2020 with a focus on melodic virtuosity.

Active off and on since 1999. One of Austin's earlier sludge/stoner acts, predating much of the city's current heavy scene.

Progressive melodic death metal featuring Nick Brady and Ryan Cullins on guitars with influences ranging from technical death to melodic hooks. Self-released their debut EP in 2013.

Heavy Ritual Dark Ambient from Plano.

Heavy Dark Ambient (early); Techno / EBM (later) from Dallas (early)/San Antonio (later).

Epic heavy metal in the Manilla Road tradition. Soaring and triumphant.

Arlington's Eternal Torment started in classic heavy metal territory before sharpening into thrash and death — a DFW band that has consistently raised the stakes of its own aggression since 2015.

Fierce Death / Heavy Metal out of Texas.

Dallas thrash outfit Exploder have been at it since 2015, delivering the genre's classic hallmarks — speed, aggression, and riff-first songwriting — with a Texas directness that suits the form well. The DFW underground has always had a taste for uncompromising metal, and Exploder fit that tradition to a T.