Metal Insider’s Top 5 is a column where we count down the top five of…well basically anything.
Other than Satan and colors (generally black or white), a lot of metal bands look to the animal kingdom when they’re trying to pick out a name. There are plenty of Ratts, Primates and Wolves and animals as leaders out there, but for this week’s installment of Metal Insider’s Top 5, we looked at some of the top animals to inspire band names.
5. Goats
(Goatwhore, Goatsnake)
OK, so there aren’t a ton of bands that derive their names from goats, but a goat is pretty satanic, and since Goatwhore is one of the best names for anything ever, they had to appear on the list somewhere.
4. Panthers
(Pantera, Steel Panther)
The panther makes it in on a technicality, since Pantera (Italian for “panther”) is named after a car. But since it was Dime’s birthday on Saturday, and also because Steel Panther deserves to be represented, this jungle cat is on the list as well.
3. Elephants
(Mastodon, Black Tusk, Mammoth)
An elephant is large, lumbering and heavy, which makes it a natural animal to name your metal band after. Mastodon have the market cornered, but you’d have to include parts of the animal, such as the tusk. Additionally, Van Halen were originally called Mammoth until the Van Halen brothers realized they might be getting rid of their frontman a few times and maybe one of their unborn kids might take over on bass one day and make the band 25% more Van Halen.
2. Insects
(Scorpions, W.A.S.P., Acrassicauda, Papa Roach, Anthrax’s Attack Of The Killer B’s, The Atlas Moth)
You might be able to squish an insect sooner than any of the other animals on this list, but don’t be fooled. Some scorpions and bees’ stings can be pretty lethal. Plus, nothing gives us the creeps more than Papa Roach’s Metamorphosis.
1. Snakes
(Whitesnake, King Kobra, Goatsnake, Slash’s Snakepit, Venom, Snakes N’ Barrels, Limp Bizkit’s Gold Cobra, High On Fire’s Snakes for the Divine)
A symbol of temptation, it’s hard to deny that the snake is pretty badass . They can be poisonous and kill their prey by suffocating them or injecting them with poisonous venom…just like Gold Cobra. PS, for those who don’t know, Snakes N’ Barrels is actually the L.A glam band Pickles of Dethklok was in beforehand. Yes, it’s only a cartoon, but Metalocalypse is awesome!
