San Francisco's Hell Fire have been feeding the Bay Area's appetite for old-school speed and heavy metal since 2016, channeling the raw swagger of the genre's golden era with genuine reverence and plenty of leather. Their riffs hit like a fist to the face on a Friday night.

Speed metal delivered at maximum velocity with a thrash backbone, Los Angeles' Last Rites have been tearing up the West Coast scene since 2002.

Los Angeles speed-thrash unit Lawnmower have been dismembering everything in their path since 2010, with a name that perfectly describes what their riffs do to the listener.

Oxnard, California's Lazy Dogs combine speed metal's velocity with punk's snarling attitude, producing fast and feral music that belies the laidback implication of their name.

Long Beach, California's Mortal Terror traffic in high-octane speed and thrash metal, channeling the raw kinetic energy of old-school Bay Area and Southern California thrash into a modern framework.

Savage Grace is an American power and speed metal band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1981 originally under the name Marquis de Sade, drawing early attention when their song 'Scepters of Deceit' appeared on Metal Blade's Metal Massacre II compilation in 1982. The band released the EP The Dominatress (1984) and their debut full-length Master of Disguise (1985), followed by After the Fall from Grace (1986), both considered significant entries in the early American speed metal canon. After a lengthy hiatus following their 1993 split, the band returned in 2023 with Sign of the Cross, the first new studio album in 37 years.

Los Angeles's Shrapnel, formed in 2021, deliver heavy and thrash metal shaped by the city's sprawling extreme metal community, prioritizing riff density and forward momentum in a style that echoes the early-80s heavy thrash underground.

Los Angeles speed/power metal band formed in 2017, channeling the fist-pumping energy and high-velocity attack of classic speed metal through the city's hard rock tradition.

Out of Santa Fe Springs, California, Skeptor has been honing a razor-sharp technical speed and thrash metal attack since 2014 — a Southern California act rooted in the region's rich thrash heritage but pushing toward more intricate, precise territory.