Hailing from Sydney, Australia, metalcore band Buried in Verona draw from all corners of the modern metal world to create their intense and emotional sound. With nods to the shuddering guitars and violent imagery of deathcore, post-hardcore's soaring clean choruses, electronicore's production flourishes, and straight-ahead metalcore's riff-driven intensity, the band pulls these elements together into a sound that feels surprisingly substantial given its breadth of influences. While the band has gone through quite a few lineup changes since forming in 2007, Buried in Verona have consistently approached their form as ambassadors of aggression, bringing heaviness everywhere they go. Buried in Verona made their debut in 2008 with Circle the Dead, following up with Saturday Night Sever in 2010. Their third album, Notorious, arrived on Artery Records in 2012 and reached number 20 on the ARIA chart. Faceless, recorded in Michigan with Joey Sturgis (the Devil Wears Prada, Asking Alexandria, blessthefall), was released in 2014 and debuted at number 15. It was longlisted for the tenth Australian Music Prize (AMP).

The Christian metalcore outfit Gwen Stacy were formed in 2004 by Indianapolis residents Cole Wallace (vocals), Brent Schindler (bass, vocals), Patrick Meadows (guitar), and T.J. Sego (drums). Blending inspirational, hope-filled lyrics with metal chops influenced by Underoath, Evergreen Terrace, and Stretch Arm Strong, the quintet toured the country for two years before entering the recording studio with producers Paul Leavitt and Brian McTernan in fall 2007. Their debut LP, The Life I Know, was released by Ferret Music early the following year. The band planned to tour alongside Poison the Well in support of the album, but Wallace left the lineup shortly before opening night. Bobby Oakley, who had recently joined Gwen Stacy as a backup guitarist, took over lead vocals for several months before yielding the microphone to Keith Jones (formerly of the band Rise), who sang lead during the band's December tour. In early 2009, Geoff Jenkins stepped in as Cole Wallace's permanent replacement, and the revised band released A Dialogue later that year.

Long Island, NY's From Autumn to Ashes gained a reputation for being one of the more melodic bands in East Coast hardcore. Their sound involved a variety of ingredients, from hardcore, metal, and thrash to alternative rock and screamo. Overall, FATA's work was quite melody-minded -- even lush at times -- but vocalist Benjamin Perri also had a screaming, totally unforgiving side. This dynamic was helped by the contributing vocals of drummer Francis Mark, who sang in a gentler, more conventional fashion. From Autumn to Ashes originally formed in 2000; besides Mark and Perri, FATA also featured bassist Josh Newton and guitarists Brian Deneeve and Jon Cox. After creating a buzz on the Long Island music scene, the band recorded its debut album, Too Bad You're Beautiful, for the small Ferret Music label in 2001 and despite limited distribution sold more than 50,000 units. In 2002, FATA (which has been on the Warped Tour at least twice) recorded the Sin, Sorrow and Sadness EP for Tribunal label. Their second full-length followed a year later; entitled The Fiction We Live, it was also their first for Vagrant Records. From Autumn to Ashes returned in August 2005 with Abandon Your Friends. After internal conflicts almost broke up the band following the record's release -- a five-month hiatus was necessary -- the guys brought on new guitarist Rob Lauritsen (in place of Cox) and managed to hold things together enough to spend summer 2006 back on the Warped Tour. They also began writing new material, but in the midst of recording at the year's end (just as vocals were about to be tracked), Perri suddenly departed, claiming he'd just lost his passion for the music; instead of replacing him, Mark moved out from behind the drum kit to handle all vocal duties himself. (His new role was helped in part by the experience Mark had fronting his side project with Newton, Biology.) From Autumn to Ashes recruited touring drummer Jeff Gretz (ex-Zao) to hit the road in March 2007 for nationwide dates, which led into the April release of Holding a Wolf by the Ears. The concert album Live at Looney Tunes followed in 2008.

North Carolina post-hardcore act He Is Legend may have taken their name from Richard Matheson's vampire horror classic I Am Legend (the inspiration for the cult film The Omega Man, among others), but the band's take on screamo is more positive than most groups, so much so that they have to regularly deflect the idea that He Is Legend is a Christian rock band, particularly endemic among those who misunderstand the derivation of the name. He Is Legend formed in 2000, as its members were graduating from high school in Wilmington, North Carolina. Singer Schuylar Croom, lead guitarist Adam Tanbouz, rhythm guitarist McKenzie Bell, bassist Matt Williams, and drummer Steven Bache cycled through a variety of band names and musical approaches before establishing themselves as He Is Legend. After a self-released demo, A Kiss That Killed the One We Love (No One Wins), the band signed with the small indie label Tribunal Records to release their first EP, 91025, in the summer of 2004. Following that, He Is Legend signed with the more established label Solid State Records to release their full-length debut, I Am Hollywood, later the same year. After a two-year break during which the band only released a split EP, Black Unicorn, with the band Classic Case, He Is Legend returned with their second full-length, Suck Out the Poison, in the fall of 2006. Guitarist McKenzie Bell left the group shortly after the album's release and was replaced by Classic Case six-string wielder Mitch Marlow. In May 2009 the band issued the single "The Primarily Blues," in anticipation of the release of their third studio long-player It Hates You, which dropped later that July. By the end of the summer, the band had gone on hiatus, but returned in 2011 for a reunion show in their hometown of Wilmington. More lineup changes followed, with drummer Steve Bache leaving the fold. In February 2014, they dropped "Something Witchy," the first single from their next full-length, Heavy Fruit, which arrived later that August on Tragic Hero. Few, the band's fifth long-player, followed in 2017 and was their first entirely crowd-funded record, it was released in Europe by Spinefarm. For 2019's White Bat, a conceptual effort inspired by Michelle McNamara's best-selling true crime memoir I'll Be Gone in the Dark, they dug into the dankest, grubbiest corners of L.A. to tell the gnarly, sweaty tale.

Initially formed as a joke between friends, Santa Cruz, CA's Arsonists Get All the Girls gradually transformed into a (somewhat) serious musical concern, fusing death metal, hardcore, and progressive inclinations into an eclectic, indefinable musical soup. Then, after surviving a few tours and the release of an EP and album, 2006's Hits from the Bow, bandmembers Remi (vocals/keyboards), Cameron (vocals/keyboards), Arthur (guitar), Nick (guitar), Pat (bass), and Garin (drums) signed with Century Media and released their sophomore full-length, The Game of Life