Death Metal Name Generator

Death metal band names follow a few recognizable traditions that go back to the late-1980s scenes in Tampa, Stockholm and Birmingham. The oldest style is a single blunt word, often Latin, medical or ecclesiastical: Death, Obituary, Autopsy, Immolation, Incantation. A second style is the gore compound built from anatomy and decay, in the mold of Cannibal Corpse, Carcass or Dying Fetus. A third leans on blasphemy and the occult, as with Deicide, Morbid Angel and Blasphemy. The names on this page pull from all three lineages so you can find something that fits old-school death metal, brutal slam, or the cavernous, murky sound of newer bands like Dead Congregation and Grave Miasma.

A strong death metal name is short, easy to growl, and unmistakable in a logo. Two-word combinations like Sepulchral Rot or Charnel Hymn read well on a shirt and leave room for an illegible logo treatment. Latin and medical vocabulary (Purulence, Cadaverine, Trepanation) signals the genre instantly and tends to be less taken than English gore words. Avoid names that could belong to a metalcore or deathcore band unless that is the sound you are going for.

Before committing, search Metal Archives and Bandcamp for the exact name. Death metal has forty years of history and thousands of demo-era bands, so many obvious names are already claimed, sometimes by a band that only released one rehearsal tape but still holds the name in fans' minds.