Sacramento's Helion Prime deals in soaring, science-themed power metal built around virtuoso playing and dramatic vocal performances. Relaunched in 2020, the band embraces the genre's grandest traditions — epic riffs, sweeping choruses, and cosmic subject matter — without a hint of irony.

San Francisco Bay Area act Hexx formed in 1983 under the name Paradox before settling on their current name and releasing the debut No Escape on Mike Varney's Shrapnel Records in 1984, establishing themselves in the nascent US power metal scene. Their sound evolved through the speed and thrash influences of the Bay Area through the late 1980s, culminating in the Century Media-released Morbid Reality (1992), their most technically demanding record. After a long dormancy following that album, founding members reformed the band in 2013 and released Wrath of the Reaper through High Roller Records in 2017.

San Carlos veterans Imagika have been fusing power metal's soaring melodics with thrash metal's technical aggression since 2007, representing the best of what the Bay Area's scene has always done well.

Power and heavy metal out of Victorville, California, Kantation have been honing their anthemic, high-energy sound in the Inland Empire since 2014. Their style leans into the epic, fist-raising tradition of classic power metal.

California power metal act Last Cadence pursue the genre's grand, orchestral ambitions since their 2018 formation, with an emphasis on melodic hooks and epic scope. They carry the tradition of European power metal into American hands.

Lizzy Borden is a Los Angeles heavy metal band formed in 1983 by vocalist Gregory Charles Harges, who performs and records under the band's name, and drummer Joey Scott. Rooted in the shock rock theatrics of Alice Cooper and Kiss, the band signed to Metal Blade Records in 1984 and released a string of albums through the late 1980s, reaching their commercial peak with Visual Lies (1987). After a prolonged hiatus, Lizzy Borden returned with My Midnight Things (2018), their first album in eleven years, which charted on the Billboard 200.

South San Francisco's Lokheira arrived in 2023 with a power metal sound built on soaring vocals, galloping rhythms, and the wide-open ambition of the Bay Area's metal tradition.

Paso Robles, California's Militant Civilian formed in 2023 and play thrash and power metal with a directness that feels bred from working-class frustration rather than genre exercise. The combination of thrash's aggression with power metal's anthemic lift gives the band a sound that hits hard and aims high at the same time.

San Francisco's MindZone launched in 2020 drawing on three distinct Bay Area traditions — the groove-heavy stomp of groove metal, the soaring hooks of power metal, and the relentless drive of thrash — weaving them into a dense, dynamic attack.