Metal Band Anagrams Trivia Quiz

Answer: Metallica

Metallica was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles, California and released their first album "Kill 'Em All" in 1983. Metallica became arguably the most famous metal band of all time. Members of Metallica include drummer Lars Ulrich and vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield, both are founders.

While recording their first album, another founder, Dave Mustaine, exited the band due to his behavior, and founded his second band Megadeth with bassist David Ellefson. Yet another founding member would leave the band, this time tragically as bassist Cliff Burton was killed in a bus accident in 1986 while touring for their third album "Master of Puppets", and was replaced by Jason Newsted.

Answer: Fear Factory

Fear Factory was formed in 1990 and released their first album "Soul of a New Machine" in 1992. Two of the popular members of this band are Burton C. Bell, who performed vocals (until he left in 2021), and Dino Cazares, who performed guitar. Fear Factory (styled as FF seen on the logo) have songs about sentient machines powered by artificial intelligence turning against mankind.

Answer: Type O Negative

Type O Negative was formed in 1989 by Peter Steele and co. and released their first album, "Slow, Deep and Hard" in 1991. Then in 1993 they released their landmark album "Bloody Kisses", which became the first Roadrunner-labeled album in the music world to achieve gold and platinum certification and also thrust the band into the gothic metal forefront.

Then in April 2010, Peter Steele died at age 48 reportedly of a heart failure, ending the band's reign.

Answer: Testament

Testament was formed by Eric Peterson and his cousin Derrick Ramirez in 1983 in San Francisco. They released their first album, "The Legacy" in 1987, whose title was taken from the name of the band they started with. Testament was one of the most popular metal bands of the 1980s and among the earliest thrash metal bands, forming just after biggest thrash acts Exodus, Metallica, Anthrax, and Slayer.

Answer: Ministry

Ministry was formed in 1981 by Al Jourgensen three years after moving to Chicago from Denver. They released their first album "With Sympathy" in 1983. After releasing their first two albums, labeled synth-pop, new wave, dance-pop and EBM, they became one of the pioneering industrial metal bands. One of the albums is palindromic, "Animositisomina" (2003), which is my favorite album by the band.

Answer: Soulfly

Soulfly was formed in 1997 by Max Cavalera, a year after he exited out of Sepultura who he was with for the previous ten years. Soulfly released their first album, eponymously-titled "Soulfly" in 1998. Soulfly went through many lineup changes with only frontman, vocalist and rhythm guitarist Max Cavalera appearing in every album.

The band showcases the use of tribal instruments, prevalent especially in early albums then tapered off with later albums.

Answer: Star One

Star One is one of the pioneering space metal bands which released their first album appropriately titled "Space Metal" in 2002. Each of the songs have lyrics based from sci-fi series and movies, such as "Master of Darkness" whose lyrics were based from the events in the "Star Wars" film "The Empire Strikes Back".

As of this writing in 2022, Star One had released only two more albums after "Space Metal": "Victims of the Modern Age" (2010), which is about end of days and dystopia, and "Revel in Time" (2022), which is about time travel. The reason for this infrequency is due to this band being only a side project as their leader Anthony Arjen Lucassen focuses on fronting his main band Ayreon, along with a couple other side projects.

Answer: Threshold

Threshold was formed by guitarist Karl Groom in 1988 and released their first album "Wounded Land" in 1993. In their infant days, Threshold played covers originally recorded by other bands, such as Testament. Threshold is a progressive metal band that is very rich in keyboards played by none other than Richard West.

Answer: Metal Allegiance

Metal Allegiance is a New York-based band formed in 2014 by Mark Menghi himself before recruiting three other members, including former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson. They released their first album with the same title as the band in 2015 before releasing "Fallen Heroes" (EP) in 2016, and "Volume II: Power Drunk Majesty" in 2018.

Answer: October Noir

It's funny that the band doesn't pertain to anything about robots, rather the band sings about life, love, and the dead. Meanwhile October Noir was formed by Tom Noir himself in Pensacola, Florida in late 2016 and released their first album, "The Haunting and the Powerful" roughly a year later. They would form a quartet eventually, with their third album "Fate, Wine & Wisteria" only their first to feature the foursome.

October Noir emulates Type O Negative-like sounds and what's more, their career were inspired and based from their love for Type O Negative.