Eksjo melodic death/groove metal act active since 2013, hailing from a small Smaland town with outsized metal ambitions. Over a decade they have developed a style that fuses Gothenburg-school melodeath with groove metal's rhythmic punch, building a growing international following.

Raw black metal project from Yakutsk, Russia — one of the coldest cities on Earth — active since 2013. The extreme cold of their Siberian hometown makes a fitting backdrop for their lo-fi, frozen-sounding raw black metal.

German melodic death metal band from Dippoldiswalde in Saxony, formed in 2020. Named after the Tolkien creature, their fantasy-themed approach channels melodic sophistication through death metal's aggressive framework.

Doom metal band with death metal influences from Świdnica, Poland, active since 2008. Their nature-themed name frames nearly two decades of ponderous doom from the Lower Silesian town.

Heavy metal act from Karvina in the Czech-Polish border region, formed in 2022. Drawing from the industrial Silesian landscape, their traditional heavy metal carries a working-class directness uncommon in the genre.

Warsaw symphonic death metal act active since 2013, layering orchestral arrangements over death metal from Poland's capital. Over a decade they have developed an approach that balances grandiose symphonic ambition with the genre's requisite brutality.

Mainz black metal act active since 2017, named after a geological formation on Mars. Their cosmically themed approach to black metal trades the genre's typical forest-and-frost imagery for something more alien and vast.

Finnish black/sludge metal/hardcore project formed in 2023, fusing three hostile genres into a single abrasive compound. Their deconstructive approach strips each genre to its most aggressive elements before reassembling them.

Order of Isaz is a Swedish gothic rock and metal band formed in Stockholm in the winter of 2006, founded by vocalist Martin Got and guitarist Tobias Sidegård. The band released a self-titled EP in 2009 and their sole full-length album, Seven Years of Famine, in 2014, which featured covers of Dead Can Dance's 'Spirit' alongside original compositions blending gothic metal atmosphere with dark rock structure. Their work is tied to the Swedish gothic underground, with Sidegård bringing experience from other Scandinavian extreme metal projects.