5. CHALY (OVERKILL)
I can see the band meeting where this thing was conceptualized:
So, what if we stuck some bat wings onto a flying human skull?
Sounds good, but it's not badass enough. Give it horns and green eyes.
Fuck yeah, that will look awesome on the T-shirts. Let's drink some beer!
And so Overkill's silly-looking mascot, "Chaly," was born. It's metal as hell, but also ridiculous in a Spinal Tap kinda way. On album covers this beast can be seen shooting green lasers out of its eyes, giving it even more evil cred, but let's face it: Chaly looks like something a 13-year-old kid carved into his desk after smoking dirt weed and listening to too much Manowar. He doesn't even have legs, so I assume this creature must fly forever without landing.
Cool Factor: It's metal, but Chaly isn't "cool" looking. Three rubber bats out of ten.
Scariness: It's just goofy, and looks like someone threw every scary thing they could into a blender, and what emerged was somehow wholly unscary. Chaly earns one laser skull out of ten.
Overall Awesomeness: I'll give Chaly a generous five, simply because Overkill was an important '80s thrash band, but that's the only reason he's awesome at all.
4. VIC RATTLEHEAD (MEGADETH)
This skeletal creature graced the cover of early Megadeth albums and has quite a detailed background, but basically he's a zombie who embodies the phrase "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil," since his eyes are covered, his ears are plugged and his mouth is clamped shut. Dave Mustaine designed the undead mascot as a symbol of his opinions about the repression of creative expression — by the government, the church, and other organizations. As the mascot for a metal band, Vic (short for "Victim") looks the part, and is a good match for Megadeth's music.
Cool Factor: Vic is sorta generic-looking, but he's the mascot for one of thrash's "Big Four," so that's solid. Six headbangs out of ten.
Scariness: He's a skeleton, so that could be considered "scary," but since he can't see, hear, or say anything, it seems unlikely that he could do much more than scratch at a person with his bony fingers. Scary, but not exactly dangerous. Plus, having a name that's short for 'victim' kinda makes him sound like a pushover, and not very scary. I give him four blind skulls out of ten.
Overall Awesomeness: I'm not a fan of Megadeth, so Vic isn't particularly awesome to me. But I'll give him six "peace sells" out of six for effort.
3. KORGULL (VOIVOD)
The best thrash band to have come out of Canada, and one of the best of that genre, Voivod mixed sci-fi concepts with elements of prog-rock, and it's no surprise that they created an interesting cyborg mascot named Korgull. Frustrated with the bleakness of our universe, Korgull creates his own; over the course of Voivod's Dimension Hatross album, he watches as his creation spirals out of control. Voivod's unique cover art was done by bassist Michel "Away" Langevin, bringing Korgull to life...or as close to it as a strange machine/human hybrid can be.
Cool Factor: Korgull is pretty cool, if for no other reason because he has a real mythology documented on Voivod's albums. I give him eight cyborg-created planets out of ten.
Scariness: Korgull doesn't seem scary, but Away's distinctive art makes him look pretty menacing, so I'll award him six Hatrosses out of ten.
Overall Awesomeness: Seeing an old Voivod T-shirt or album cover is way cooler than stuff from Metallica or other better-known thrash bands from the '80s, so Korgull scores nine mosh pits out of ten.
2. SNAGGLETOOTH (MOTöRHEAD)
Motörhead defined a certain type of rock and roll, relentlessly hammering fans with their music and attitude for decades. Lemmy Kilmister lived the rock and roll lifestyle of legend, and it's only fitting that his band would have a mascot that represented them so well. Enter "Snaggletooth," a mix of vicious-looking animal skulls, tusks and a spiked helmet. Motörhead's creature embodied the attitude of their music, and became one of hard rock's iconic symbols. It was created by Joe Petagno, the artist also responsible for Led Zeppelin's "Icarus" logo, and has been used on Motörhead album covers, T-shirts, and fan tattoos for longer than many listeners have been alive.
Cool Factor: Ten. I don't even feel like I need to qualify that, but many of the other bands mentioned probably wouldn't be playing the music they do without Motörhead.
Scariness: Nine "impaled by tusks" out of ten. Snaggletooth has been all over outlaw culture for years. He's scary.
Overall Awesomeness: Ten "Lemmy is God"s out of ten.
1. EDDIE THE HEAD (IRON MAIDEN)
We all knew this dude would top the list, and how could he not? Eddie has appeared on every Iron Maiden album cover and most of their merch, and appears onstage in some form at every concert. When people think about a "metal mascot," I'd bet that nine out of ten immediately think of Maiden's iconic zombie. He also gets points for changing over time, taking on different forms depending on the concept of each album. Originally, Eddie was a papier-mâché mask used in the band's early stage backdrop, then artist Derik Riggs used him in the cover art of Maiden's debut album, launching his long career as a metal mascot.
Cool Factor: Eddie the Head gets eight Powerslaves out of ten. He's an icon of the metal world.
Scariness: At times, Eddie has looked like he's about to murder someone, so that's pretty frightening. Plus he's an undead corpse, so that's always horrifying. He's been around so long that familiarity might have eroded a little of his scariness, but I'll give him seven Phantom of the Operas out of ten.
Overall Awesomeness: Iron Maiden is awesome, and so is Eddie. He gets nine Troopers out of ten.
