For years now I have made a personal study of delving into the murky and sometimes macabre monikers our local bands have chosen. Now we shall have them compete for our pleasure.

Here are the ten best band names in the city.

10. Holy Fiction Evan Lecker's spiraling, philosophical explanation behind the meaning of Holy Fiction is simply too much trouble to repeat. The gist of it is that holy fictions are basically stories cultures make up to illustrate the basic framework of their moral code and society. It's just the sort of sardonic, mocking thing Lecker does best.

9. Featherface At first glance I was pretty sure that Featherface was just another group of chumps pulling the '90s trick of sewing two unrelated words together to make a name. Actually, Steve Wells and Kenny Hopkins spent hours interpreting a dream of ornate feathered fans in a swanky and glamorous party. It called to mind The Great Gatsby, and the Hollywood perception that they have of the '20s seemed perfect to wear as an onstage mask of their own.

8. The Manichean One thing that comes up again and again in our What's in a Name? column is that bands, well, they don't really think too much about their names. That's why we delve into dream interpretation and such. The Manichean is not among those bands. The band takes its title from an obscure and heavily persecuted religion that died out in the 14th century.

The basic tenets involved recognizing the separation of good and evil. As The Manichean seems dedicated to blending the two concepts in song lyrics constantly, the name is really just an anthropological trolling session.