At the heart of hate music are the bands themselves.  Hate rock is truly an international force, with bands from the U.S. and Canada, other English-speaking nations, all European countries (including those that emerged from the former U.S.S.R.), and even many Latin American countries.  There are literally hundreds of hate rock bands around the world.

The U.S. and Germany have the most hate music bands, followed by Sweden and Great Britain.  However, hate music crosses all borders.  White supremacists in the U.S., for example, routinely purchase hate music CDs from foreign bands.  In fact, it is common for bands from outside North America to have some or all of their lyrics in English, to increase the possibility of sales in the U.S. and Canada.

With the exceptions of Skrewdriver and a few NSBM bands, hardly any hate rock bands have ever established any sort of presence in the music mainstream.  Although many white power musicians often conceive of themselves as warriors in the forefront of a battle for the future of the white race, the truth is often very different.  Condemned by the hatred in their lyrics to relative or absolute obscurity, unable to secure venues to play, and shunned by other musicians and bands, most hate musicians occupy an unpleasant musical ghetto (this is somewhat less true for NSBM bands in some parts of Europe). 

Many bands, too, possess more ideological fervor than musical or vocal skills, which further limits their appeal.  As a result, many musicians involved in white power bands lead dual lives:  working in obscurity at low paying jobs while at the same time being celebrities of a sort in the narrowly circumscribed world of white supremacists.  Many bands are short-lived, as members depart to form their own bands, or bands split apart for a variety of reasons (including, from time to time, because of the arrest of a member or members); at the same time, new bands appear frequently.  The "scene" constantly changes.

The names that members choose for their bands illustrate many of the key images and concepts the bands try to evoke.  Some white power bands have names that openly proclaim their racist nature, such as Jew Slaughter (Oregon), Angry Aryans (Detroit), Grinded Nig, Torquemada 1488 (Spain), SS Bootboys (California), or Section 88 (Great Britain).  The most frequent type of band name, however, is one that evokes violence or confrontation.  Examples include Max Resist, Aggressive Force (California), Aggravated Assault, Battlefront (Canada), Bloodshed (Germany), or Warhead (Poland).  Norse or Viking related names are also common, such as Legion of Thor (Germany), Nordic Thunder (Delaware), and Viking (Italy).   Also common are names that refer back to the Nazi era, such as Das Reich (a Waffen SS division), Dirlewanger (a notorious Waffen SS unit; the band is from Sweden), and Landser (term for a German soldier; the band is from Germany).