U.S. historians might argue that Pennsylvania’s most notable heavy-metal icon is the Liberty Bell. Here’s the thing, though: it hasn’t rung across the land in ages. But when it comes to homegrown acts in the metal and hardcore scenes, the Keystone State is full of bands that are ready to crack open the very earth with their music.
From border to border, Pennsylvania has produced some serious juggernauts in the worlds of pop, rock and hip-hop — from Taylor Swift to Hall & Oates to the Fresh Prince. But it’s also a place where crushing riffs have reigned supreme, whether played by post-grunge chart-climbers, hard-rock flag-wavers or hardcore vampires.
But which headbanging act has made Pennsylvanians the proudest? Who are the all-out champs with a Rocky-like swagger? We asked our readers this very question, and they ranked their faves as such.
The Virgos
When you call yourselves “Pennsylvania’s heaviest band,” you’d damn well better deliver the goods. Thankfully, the Virgos are brandishing iron-wrought riffage as menacing as the broadswords they’ve been hoisting in their most recent music videos.
The Wilkes-Barre natives have forged a sound full of blood-spilling hardcore beatdowns, sludge-bound devastation, molten-drip stoner-gloom melancholy and more. And, lord have mercy, the grooves they groove can shake you to your core.
Rivers of Nihil
Formed in 2009, Reading’s Rivers of Nihil have steeped listeners in a psychedelic pool of tech-death ferocity and smooth-jazz-adjacent sax wailing.
Early standouts like “Rain Eater” an “Mechanical Trees” poured down progressive bedlam, zoetropic thrill rides of percussive dexterity and violent melodicism. Later, singles like “Where Owls Know My Name” and more modern cuts like “House of Light” threaded the needle with a compelling fusion of heavy and sensual feels — and its built them a fanbase of diehards in and outside of the Keystone State.
Indeed, it’s not just the owls that know their name.
156/Silence
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Our readers love to shout out their appreciation for Pittsburgh’s 156/Silence.
While the band have been building the pressure since 2015, the past couple of years in particular have leveled up 156’s presence in the heavy scene. The groove and menace of 2024’s People Watching really put them on people’s radars, while the battering nu-grooves, hardcore aggression and industrial pummel they’ve previewed from their upcoming album, From a Distance, suggest that the Steel City crew are only getting stronger with each release.
August Burns Red
August Burns Red are fit for all seasons, per our readers.
While the Lancaster outfit have shaken up their lineup over the past couple of decades, ABR are keeping the flame alive for metalcore. A Grammy-nominated behemoth that shows no signs of slowing down, they first gained fans in the underground as fledgling Thrill Seekers, but have gone on to create 11 albums worth of scorched-earth riffage and world-detonating rhythms — plus a flurry of subversively jubilant Christmas music.
Motionless in White
Dunder Mifflin paper. Joe Biden. Motionless in White.
How you rank Scranton, Pennsylvania’s most famous exports is a matter of personal preference, but one thing’s for sure: Motionless in White is the one with the heaviest breakdowns.
Formed in the early Aughts by vocalist Chris Motionless, MIW have explored countless aspects of the heavy scene — from speed-barrier-breaking metalcore, to brawny hard rock, to reflective and requiescatted goth ballads, to nu-booming beatdowns and more.
Through it all, their earnest delivery — whether tender-hearted or furiously pissed — has built a massive fanbase, one that embraces the many ways Motionless in White pour themselves into each performance.