Heavy Metal Naming Conventions

Knowing what genre a band is solely based on their name is a virtue. It allows you to preemptively judge them without hearing a single note. It saves time.With that being said, it becomes a lot easier to know a band's genre if you know the naming conventions.

Heavy Metal: Names are either manly or have some form of metal in them. Examples: Metallica, Iron Maiden, Led Zeppelin, Manowar

Death Metal: Band names refer to stuff dying. Not too creative here. Examples: Death, Cannibal Corpse, Decapitated, Dying Fetus, Morbid Angel

Thrash Metal: Also refer to stuff dying, but faster. What is it with American-created genres? Examples: Slayer, Megadeth, Sepultura (Portuguese for grave), Warbringer

Power Metal: Names are epic-sounding. Examples: Dragonforce, Rhapsody, Kamelot, Iced Earth, Firewind

Black Metal: Names are dark and/or powerful. Examples: Darkthrone, Immortal, Emperor, Dimmu Borgir (Icelandic for dark fortress), Behemoth, Burzum (part of the inscription on the One Ring meaning darkness)

Folk Metal: Bands choose names in their native language. That's the only criteria. Examples: Too many to list

Troll Metal: They have troll in their name. Examples: Finntroll, Trollfest, Trollheim's Grott, Trollband, Trollkotze, Litvintroll, Troll-Myr, Trollhorn, Trollward, Troll (I promise these are all real bands)

Also here's a handy naming pentagram I found.

-Zombie Viking