Austin's Taverner occupy the volatile space where metalcore collides with powerviolence and grindcore, a combination that makes their music as chaotic as the city's music scene is eclectic. Formed in 2016, they channel the blistering pace of powerviolence into song structures that occasionally open up just long enough to crush you with a metalcore breakdown before pulling the floor out again.

Ripping Thrash Metal from Los Angeles, California (early); Dallas, Texas (later).

Dallas heavy trio fusing drone, doom, post-rock, noise, grunge, and classic metal.

Frigid Black Metal from Texas/Minnesota.

Short-lived blackened thrash/crust unit active 2007-2009. Lyrics addressed corruption, anti-government themes, and Mexican wrestlers.

Furious Death / Thrash Metal / Grindcore from Houston.

Out of Lubbock, Texas, Terror Chamber have been dealing in stripped-down death metal since 2017 — a band born from the West Texas plains where there is nothing soft or decorative in the landscape, and nothing soft or decorative in the music. Their approach is direct and relentless, the kind of death metal that dispenses with subtlety and goes straight for the throat.

Devastating Death Metal / Grindcore from Houston.

Relentless Groove / Thrash Metal out of Texas.