Romans Are the New Vikings

If two names make a trend, and if we're counting band names, not lyrical content: first there was Ex Deo, the side project of Kataklysm front man Maurizio Iacono, a guy who looks - had he been alive in the Classical period - like he'd be a member of the Germanic tribes, not the legions:














Now we've got the press release about the upcoming debut of Stephen Carpenter's (of The Deftones) side project, Sol Invicto. Sol Invictus (Unconquered Sun) was one of the Roman deities at various points during the Empire, so I assumed we'd be getting another take on Roman history. Unfortunately, the reality isn't nearly as cool: they're a genre mashup between metal and drum-and-bass using Deftones-style riffs. Seems like a waste of a perfectly metal band name to me.