Argentine thrash metal outfit Calavera formed in Buenos Aires in 2013, delivering high-velocity riffing and aggressive vocals inspired by the classic Bay Area and South American thrash traditions. Their sound carries the intensity of Sepultura and Slayer filtered through a distinctly Latin American fury. The band has become a fixture in the South American metal underground, earning a reputation for punishing live performances.

Santiago's Criminal have been one of South America's most enduring and internationally respected extreme metal acts since forming in 1991, blending thrash metal's riff-driven aggression with death metal's brutality into a sound that earned them a major label deal with BMG and MTV Latino airplay during the mid-1990s. Frustrated with the South American music industry, the band relocated to Europe in 2001 and reconstituted as a Chilean-British outfit, continuing to release well-regarded albums including Minion (2005), which Terrorizer listed among the year's ten best.

Nuclear is a Chilean thrash and death metal band formed in 2003 in Arica, drawing on the aggressive sonic tradition of Bay Area thrash while incorporating death metal brutality. The band released early albums Heaven Denied (2006) and Ten Broken Codes (2008) before signing to Candlelight Records for Formula for Anarchy, which expanded their reach internationally. Nuclear is recognized as one of the leading acts in the contemporary South American extreme metal scene.

Brazilian thrash metal legends Sepultura helped put South American metal on the global map with landmark albums like 'Beneath the Remains' and 'Arise' before radically reinventing themselves with 1996's tribal-metal masterpiece 'Roots,' which fused extreme metal with indigenous Brazilian percussion and world music. The Cavalera brothers' departure fractured the band but didn't end it, as Sepultura continued for decades under guitarist Andreas Kisser's stewardship, exploring diverse sonic territory across numerous albums. Their influence on the global metal scene, particularly in bridging extreme metal with indigenous and world music traditions, is immeasurable.