Clearly there is nothing more hardcore than naming your metal band after something that has the ability to kill worldwide, but calling your band COVID-19 isn’t as cool as you might think. Plus, at least two bands are already sporting the name.

Metal has remained iconic for its shock factor. Between choosing names that incite fear like Anthrax, Cannibal Corpse, or Slayer, and cladding themselves in outfits that are sure to give concertgoers nightmares for days, bands holding the ‘metal’ genre surely know how to keep their fans engaged.

Although the band Anthrax has held their name since 1981, exactly 20 years before the famed anthrax attacks that occurred over several weeks in the U.S., other bands are working to capitalise on the current global pandemic that is shutting down the world, industry after industry.

That’s right – there are at least two bands who have decided to call themselves COVID-19.

One band that has decided that the current deadly virus would be a great name is a Russian band sporting a track called ‘We All Die’, where they’re obviously trying their best to combine the name of the virus with the darkest title ever.

Next up, there is another project that has also taken opportunity to sport COVID-19 as it’s name. With their aptly titled song ‘Nobody Was Prepared’ alongside their cover art sporting a family wearing gas masks, the Brazilian death-grind group has similarly decided to attempt to capitalise on the virus.

Now, we get that Anthrax is a pretty cool name – simple, effective, still gives us that anxious feeling. But, naming your band after the current wave of coronavirus just isn’t as enticing. While each song isn’t too bad, it’s still in poor taste to try and make bank off of a virus that’s still infecting and killing people globally.

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With practically every event around the world cancelled and everyone currently quarantined, most people are quite sour to the idea of the global pandemic, and are surely not going to be keen to welcome any more COVID-19 into their lives anytime soon.

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