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~Guest 171512
Metalhead

Joined: Thu Oct 09, 2008 9:18 am
Posts: 2099
PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2018 3:21 pm 
 

Pretty straightforward: what are your favorite band names and why? Please try to separate the name from the band it belongs to: Arch/Matheos is a great band, but it's not much of a band name.

I've got to say that I've always loved the name Dream Theater. It's so evocative and colorful, and I wish their music more often reflected it. They came closest to this on 'Images and Words', I think.

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rexxz
Where's your band?

Joined: Sun Apr 18, 2004 8:45 pm
Posts: 9094
Location: United States of America
PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2018 3:24 pm 
 

Great thread idea.

I really like Incantation as a name. Totally fits the band, very simple and yet also esoteric. Couldn't think of a better name for that band.

I also love the name Satanic Warmaster because it just sounds badass. Not really into the band that much though.
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Temple Of Blood
Old Man Yells at Cloud

Joined: Mon Jul 18, 2011 8:16 am
Posts: 3118
Location: United States
PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2018 3:28 pm 
 

Agreed with Dream Theater.
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Wilytank
Not a Flying Toy

Joined: Thu Jul 30, 2009 7:21 am
Posts: 5859
Location: 717
PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2018 3:47 pm 
 

I don’t pay much mind to band names unless they’re really outrageous. Even if the music is mediocre, the band name will definitely stick. I really like names like Anal Blasphemy, Ass Flavour, and Maximum Oversatan for that reason.
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DecemberSoul
Mirties Metafora

Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2010 9:46 am
Posts: 1399
Location: Switzerland
PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2018 4:23 pm 
 

-Pretty much every name incorporating the word "autumn"
-Wacko names like "Teratism in the formalintank"
-Evocative yet mystically vague names such as "In slaughter natives"

Least favourite names: everything attempting to be funny when using "dead" or "death" in lieu of "de-"
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~Guest 171512
Metalhead

Joined: Thu Oct 09, 2008 9:18 am
Posts: 2099
PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2018 4:35 pm 
 

@DecemberSoul: Do you like the name October Tide? I'm guessing you do, based on your screen name and your affinity for autumnal imagery. I've always thought it was a nice, rather beautiful name.

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DecemberSoul
Mirties Metafora

Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2010 9:46 am
Posts: 1399
Location: Switzerland
PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2018 4:47 pm 
 

Thiestru wrote:
@DecemberSoul: Do you like the name October Tide? I'm guessing you do, based on your screen name and your affinity for autumnal imagery. I've always thought it was a nice, rather beautiful name.


You're right, I sure do! October and September are my favourite months of the year, the wilderness is pure magic then. As for my user name, that's in honor of my all-time fave album in the world - which, again, is rich with autumnal imagery as you so nicely put it. When pondering the lyrics to "Velvet thorns", I've always felt those words could well have been either written by me or about me ...
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Empyreal
The Final Frontier

Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2006 6:58 pm
Posts: 35140
Location: Where the dead rule the night
PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2018 4:48 pm 
 

Iced Earth always captivated my imagination, especially back when I was like 14-15 and just getting into metal. I liked their album covers and aesthetic, too. Imagine my disappointment upon hearing the majority of their music.

Atlantean Kodex is just such an epic name. Seasons of the Wolf is exactly the kind of macabre, spooky shit I like. Both good ones.
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Thy Shrine
Metalhead

Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2016 11:37 pm
Posts: 1051
Location: Golgotha
PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2018 5:04 pm 
 

Alot of those old grunge bands had really cool names. Pearl Jam has a wonderfully colorful name. Soundgarden sounds like a cool term a music critic would use, Alice In Chains is an okay name though, nothing too great, gonna throw Nirvana into the "okay category" as well.

I was just thinking earlier today that Dream Theater is a fucking great band name.

In terms of more death metal stuff. I've always thought that Disharmonic Orchestra is an AMAZING band name. it just sounds so grandiose, and elegant.

Ripping Corpse is also a really cool band name, sounds total balls to the wall metal, and i like that,

Speaking of NJ death metal, Human Remains sounds a little more obscure to me, that could be because their music was more off the wall than most DM bands of that era.

Crypt of Kerberos is another cool name. An odd progressive name, for an odd progressive band.

I also really like the band name Coil for some reason, and as an extension to that I think This Mortal Coil sounds awesome as well.
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Vintersorrow
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed Jun 02, 2004 2:59 pm
Posts: 238
Location: Slovenia
PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2018 6:02 pm 
 

Vulture Industries rolls off the tongue quite easily.

"Vulture" representing something natural, the cycle of being, growth and decay ... "Industries" on the other hand representing the dark, impersonal world of technology - which ironically produces said "vultures".

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~Guest 427139
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2018 3:33 am
Posts: 75
PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2018 6:48 pm 
 

Generally, my all-time favorite band/project names are composed of 2-3 words that sound... atmospheric / depressive (?) (such as Midnight Odyssey, ColdWorld, Sombres Forêts, Forest of Shadows, Woods of Desolation, Ocean of Ghosts, Sea of Desperation, Trees Of Eternity, Dimness Through Infinity, ..).

I also think that the name of a death doom metal band The Slow Death fits perfectly to their music and (especially) lyrics. <3

Also, I like when the band members use their native language for a band name, and when it sounds melodic / beautiful and (most importantly) 'pronounceable' for speakers of other languages (Mar De Grises is a good example).


Last edited by ~Guest 427139 on Fri Sep 07, 2018 1:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
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~Guest 74046
Metalhead

Joined: Fri Jul 07, 2006 7:42 pm
Posts: 962
PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2018 7:11 pm 
 

Timeghoul

Totally rad sounding name that appeals to my inner nerd. Its eerie, and endearingly corny all at once. Even made better that the music itself fits. I'm also partial to one-word names that sound somewhat exotic and mysterious. Examples include

Anata
Bolzer
Volahn

As well as names that just sound totally cool and singular

Defeated Sanity
Insect Warfare
Order from Chaos
Dragged into Sunlight (very sinister sounding, and unnerving that it's somewhat vague on what exactly who/what is being dragged out)
Witchfinder General
Mitochondrion

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GTog
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Dec 03, 2006 8:35 pm
Posts: 1196
Location: United States
PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2018 8:10 pm 
 

Duobetic Homunkulus. Offshoot of !T.O.O.H.! I have no idea what it means, I just think it's awesome.
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Rodman
Metalhead

Joined: Wed Aug 24, 2011 10:15 am
Posts: 976
Location: Sydney, Australia
PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2018 9:10 pm 
 

Napalm Death

Malevolent Creation

Destruction

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lordcatfish
Metalhead

Joined: Thu Jul 27, 2006 2:44 pm
Posts: 1458
Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 2:17 am 
 

Empyreal wrote:
Iced Earth always captivated my imagination, especially back when I was like 14-15 and just getting into metal. I liked their album covers and aesthetic, too. Imagine my disappointment upon hearing the majority of their music.

Very similar for me when I was digging deeper into metal in my earlier years. Loved the name and the artwork, but the music never grabbed me.

Swallow the Sun - the alliteration flows well, and it has a beautiful sort of melancholy to it.

Hooded Menace - I like thst it has a variety of ominous, unsettling connotations (eg grim reaper, red riding hood, religious figures).

Wintersun - reminds me of cold, crisp winter mornings, where the sun is beaming but there's a chill in the air and a glaze on the ground.

Forgotten Tomb - probably appeals to my love of Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider. Evokes images of undiscovered graves, overgrown with vegetation and the like.
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MawBTS
Metalhead

Joined: Sat Aug 30, 2014 2:16 am
Posts: 1046
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 2:29 am 
 

"Custard" is the most metal band name.

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SculptedCold
Metalhead

Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2003 11:26 am
Posts: 592
Location: United States of America
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 2:45 am 
 

Seconding Dragged Into Sunlight. It tells so many possible stories. Pick one, it's bound to be horrible. Probably my favourite moniker if I were forced.

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Opus
Metal freak

Joined: Sun Sep 22, 2002 11:06 am
Posts: 4258
Location: Sweden
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 3:51 am 
 

MawBTS wrote:
"Custard" is the most metal band name.


Not!
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HaPoStaPu
Metal newbie

Joined: Mon Jul 16, 2018 9:20 am
Posts: 183
Location: Armenia
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 4:12 am 
 

Short and sweet names like Bathory (one of the few named after a woman?), Venom, Voivod, Kreator, Slayer and so on. Anything a caveman could grunt without too much effort.

Nice attempt but no cigar, Vader. Star Wars or Dutch for father? Just always seemed a bit of an odd choice.

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Rodman
Metalhead

Joined: Wed Aug 24, 2011 10:15 am
Posts: 976
Location: Sydney, Australia
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 4:27 am 
 

HaPoStaPu wrote:
Short and sweet names like Bathory (one of the few named after a woman?), Venom, Voivod, Kreator, Slayer and so on. Anything a caveman could grunt without too much effort.

Nice attempt but no cigar, Vader. Star Wars or Dutch for father? Just always seemed a bit of an odd choice.


Venom is brilliant.

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k311250
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed Jun 20, 2018 8:14 am
Posts: 144
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 4:35 am 
 

A Forest of Stars, Akhlys, Devouring Star, Teitanblood, Svartidaudi, Ulver.

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~Guest 343918
Metalhead

Joined: Tue Sep 23, 2014 12:23 pm
Posts: 404
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 5:24 am 
 

Of the not-yet-mentioned succinct names: PORTAL. Fits the music perfectly and the on-stage slogan "The Portal is open" is great.

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joppek
Veteran

Joined: Sun Jan 09, 2011 7:36 am
Posts: 2547
Location: Suomi Finland Perkele
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 5:31 am 
 

i like to wear my dragged into sunlight shirt on sunny holidays (even tho' the logo is utterly impossible to read)

anyway, there's a bunch of great one word names, such as:
Slayer
Immolation
Mayhem
Death
Carcass
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Hayisforhorses
Metalhead

Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2006 11:47 am
Posts: 797
Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 6:06 am 
 

Generally i prefer one word names like Autopsy, Decomposed, Thergothon, Incantation etc...

But occasionally you get something like Dragged Into Sunlight which is great and has a bunch of connotations. Another I like is Circle of Dead Children, on the surface it's a pretty standard nasty imagery style name but I remember reading about how the name came about and it seemed so much more relevant to their music.

On another note always thought Cock and Ball Torture was a great name

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LordStenhammar
Veteran

Joined: Sun Oct 21, 2012 10:46 am
Posts: 3060
Location: Not in Sweden
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 6:36 am 
 

Basically two word names are my favorite. Of course there are other great too (Venom and Bathory and the like are great names), but: Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Reverend Bizarre, Babylon Whores etc. You get it.

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DecemberSoul
Mirties Metafora

Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2010 9:46 am
Posts: 1399
Location: Switzerland
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 6:40 am 
 

Opus wrote:
MawBTS wrote:
"Custard" is the most metal band name.


Not!


No:
https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Obstsalat/89997

:-D
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Metallumz
Metal newbie

Joined: Mon Jan 31, 2011 2:02 pm
Posts: 201
Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 7:08 am 
 

I'm a fan of the more surreal named bands mostly because the name itself gets many people to check them out solely out of interest.

Footprints in the Custard
The Color Pink is Gay
Foetal Juice
Psychostick

...and so on

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e_ddi_e
Metalhead

Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2009 9:00 am
Posts: 613
Location: Sweden
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 8:54 am 
 

Fuck Your Shadow from Behind

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theposega
Mezla

Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2008 9:42 pm
Posts: 5263
Location: Neo-Allegheny City
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 9:25 am 
 

I like made-up-word names that still manage to convey how the band sounds a la Slugathor or Xasthur. The former just sounds knuckle-dragging and the latter has this nice eerie mystique to it.

insect warfare is another great one that perfectly encapsulates the band's sound. chaotic and brutal.

i really like deathspell omega because it sounds so fucking over-the-top and self-serious it's almost comical, yet i couldn't imagine the band with a name any less pretentious.

i'm also a sucker for any bm band named after some tolkien shit.
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Unity
Metalhead

Joined: Wed Nov 27, 2013 5:42 pm
Posts: 1886
Location: Portugal
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 10:48 am 
 

Band names I love:

Carpathian Forest
Bathory
Marduk
Agoraphobic Nosebleed
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Hank Scorpio
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2017 2:59 pm
Posts: 19
Location: Prussia
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 12:19 pm 
 

You can't beat short and memorable names from the early days of metal, like Slayer, Mayhem, Death, Venom. They roll of the tongue and everybody knows who you're talking about. There's no discussion like "No, I don't mean the Venom from Seattle or the Slayer from Munich!" No, when you're talking about Slayer, you're talking about fuckin' Slayer! I also like Kriegsmaschine, that's a nifty name that sounds just as brutal as the pictures it conjures. Behemoth and Leviathan are also nice, but since those are biblical names, there are like two dozen bands called like that and most of them suck.

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Xymosys
Metalhead

Joined: Sat Apr 09, 2011 9:19 am
Posts: 1245
Location: Croatia
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 1:25 pm 
 

When it comes to names, I prefer the constructed two-three or more word names that can vividly be connected to the band itself. For example: Iron Maiden, Cannibal Corpse, Celtic Frost, Carpathian Forest, Black Sabbath, Fear Factory, Alice In Chains, Morbid Angel...
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booK_of_blood
Metal newbie

Joined: Tue Jul 24, 2018 11:26 am
Posts: 75
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 3:23 pm 
 

Old Lady Drivers
Clotted Symmetric Sexual Organ
Infamous Sinphony
Uncle Slam
Korova
Skin Chamber

But the best name for the best band out there, that's hardly metal yet darker and heavier: SWANS...

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aaronmb666
Veteran

Joined: Mon Jan 03, 2005 3:37 am
Posts: 2834
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 5:19 pm 
 

Cannibal Corpse, Mortician, Obituary, the logos add to it too.

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Amber Gray
Metalhead

Joined: Sat Jan 21, 2012 12:30 am
Posts: 646
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 6:36 pm 
 

Sakatat - It somehow just comes off as a vicious looking word
City of Caterpillar - How could that not invoke interest? Is it a city formed from a giant caterpillar? A township of caterpillars? Whatever it is, it's awesome screamo.
Gridlink - Combined with the album cover for Amber Gray, I was instantly enthralled by Gridlink some time ago. The aesthetic, this cool seeming word, I had to know what it could possibly be.
Timeghoul - just awesome, right?
Cellgraft - Similar story as Gridlink, and more otherworldly grindcore.
Pillar Tombs of Aku - It just sounds beastly and menacing and esoteric all at once.
Noothgrush - Dr. Seuss sure did coin a beauty
Ancestortooth - HUGE.
Megaton Leviathan - HUGER.
Vault Dweller - I absolutely love post apocalyptia.
Sexdrome - Something about it is perverse, raw and grimy, the music is even more so.
Cobalt - I don't really have an explanation tbh.
Lurker of Chalice - File under: Ominous descents into the darkest of voids.
Swarrrm - It's the 3 R's, obviously.
The Endless Blockade - Another I can't really explain, but more imaginative I suppose than Cobalt. Makes me think of bricks and grenades and shit.
Bone Awl - An awl for bones. It's severe.
Forgotten Spell - Surely my favorite band with forgotten in their name.
Battle of Wolf 359 - I didn't even know it was a Star Trek reference, I just thought it was badass.
Battle Dagorath - I did know it was a LotR reference, and I thought it was badass.
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lost_wanderer
Metal newbie

Joined: Sun May 22, 2005 4:59 pm
Posts: 312
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 6:52 pm 
 

I don't know why but I always liked the name ''Ildjarn''.
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Gunslinger21
Metalhead

Joined: Tue Oct 03, 2017 4:11 am
Posts: 421
PostPosted: Sat Sep 08, 2018 12:35 am 
 

Static X. Badass :hail:

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nightbreaker33
Metalhead

Joined: Mon Jan 25, 2016 11:20 am
Posts: 610
Location: Greece
PostPosted: Sat Sep 08, 2018 7:44 am 
 

Gotham City because I like batman.
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Last edited by nightbreaker33 on Sat Sep 08, 2018 8:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Schmengie
Metalhead

Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2012 12:14 am
Posts: 517
Location: United States
PostPosted: Sat Sep 08, 2018 8:03 am 
 

Seagulls Insane and Swans Deceased Mining Out the Void

...What more can I say? :P
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Drowned
Tenebrous Apparition

Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2005 11:57 pm
Posts: 777
PostPosted: Sat Sep 08, 2018 8:07 am 
 

Dick Delicious and The Tasty Testicles

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