Los Angeles' Daemonic approaches death metal with a directness befitting the city's storied extreme underground — no baroque ornamentation, just grinding heaviness and sharp, purposeful riffing. They've been at it since 2020, adding another entry to Southern California's long death metal legacy.

Los Angeles' Damascus grind out death/thrash metal with a West Coast ferocity that draws on both technical death metal precision and thrash's instinctive directness. Formed in 2011, they represent the harder-edged side of the LA underground.

Hailing from Menifee, California, Damnum sculpt atmospheric black metal that trades in grief and grandeur in equal measure, letting melancholy melodies ripple beneath a fog of dissonance. The project has been releasing emotionally charged work since its 2019 formation.

Seal Beach's Dark Days emerged in 2018 with death metal that sits comfortably within Southern California's tradition of technical brutality and tightly coiled aggression. The name turns out to be an accurate weather forecast.

A young death metal outfit from Long Beach, California, Dark Insanity launched in 2024 with a name that signals exactly what they're after — caustic, relentless, and tuned to destroy.

Los Angeles' Dark Prophecy have been forging blackened death/thrash metal since 2013, drawing on the city's legacy of extreme metal extremity to craft music that's technically sharp and unrelentingly aggressive.

Placentia, California's Dark Prophet throw groove metal into their death/thrash foundation, the added pocket and midrange weight distinguishing them from more straightforward acts in the same lane.

La Puente, California's Dark Union forges blackened death metal in the tradition of Los Angeles County's long underground extreme metal history, offering no concessions to accessibility since forming in 2013.

Huntington Beach's Darkale sharpens melodic death metal's Swedish influences to a keen edge with Southern California precision, a project that has been bringing craft and melody to the Orange County underground since 2013.