MusicRadar

Viking Crown - not a bad metal band name, but could do better

View in gallery

Anyone who's been in a band knows that actually playing the music is only half the appeal. Plenty of fun is also to be had by thinking of a badass band name.

Some terrible band names can be transcended by simple soaraway success. How bad, when you really think of it, are the names The Beatles (terribly weak pun), Coldplay (what the hell does that mean?) or Limp Bizkit (worse than the music itself).

It's even harder being a metal band. You might want to incorporate references to the occult, animals, sound exotically foreign or just be plain offensive. If not, why not?

Chart explains everything

Help is at hand from American comedian Doogie Horner who has made this super-useful heavy metal band name flowchart. All is explained, even if Doogie can't even spell Led Zeppelin.

Still, MusicRadar still had fun trying to sort the real metal bands from the fakes.

Click here for bigger chart!

Is there really a metal band called Wiccan Guidance Counselor? We sincerely hope so.

Enjoy - we're off to form a gruntcore band called Black Goat Of Odin.