Subject: Black Sabbath

• Get Lit: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath by Joel McIver

  January 3, 2008

• Yesterday Afternoon: Westheimer Block Party at Numbers, Mango's and Avant Garden

  April 13, 2008

• Tonight: Valient Thorr at Rudyard's

  August 6, 2008

• Black Sabbath: The Rules of Hell Box Set Reviewed

  August 19, 2008

• Aftermath: The Black Keys at Meridian

  October 1, 2008

• Aftermath: Spain Colored Orange at the Continental Club

  Photos by Chris Gray Is Spain Colored Orange the Badfinger of Texas? Why not? Thursday at the Continental Club, the local quintet's heavy, lush pop was dense and intricate, but never at the expense of melody. Its members have also heard at least one jazz album in their lifetimes, evident in their frisky interplay and consistent groove. Multiple Houston Press Music Award winners in 2006 and this year, SCO has been tagged as one of Houston's most likely to break out for years, and that still ho

  December 5, 2008

• Metalocalypse: Baroness and the Southern Metal Renaissance

  Baroness, "Wanderlust," 2007 In the same way that Houston rarely inspires photos of snow flurries, people tend not to associate heavy metal with the South. But, if you look hard enough, you'll find a rich history of hard music with roots planted firmly in Southern soil. In the '80s and early '90s, Louisiana produced sludge-metal bands such as Crowbar, Acid Bath and Down. Currently, Austin's retro-metal The Sword is gaining national attention by opening for Metallica, like they and Down did

  December 16, 2008

• Retro Active: The Ian Gillan-Fronted Black Sabbath

  Ian Gillan on his brief stint in Black Sabbath Last week, Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi filed a lawsuit against Live Nation, claiming that one of the promotion behemoth's subsidiaries, Signatures, sold a bunch of Sabbath merch after a licensing agreement expired in 2006. Though the idea of Black Sabbath "jewelry and fashion accessories" (as noted in the complaint) is kinda funny, you can't really begrudge the guy for being super-protective over the Sabbath "brand."After all, it was Iommi wh

  December 26, 2008

• Live Shots

  December 1, 1994

• Metalocalypse: Texas Hippie Coalition

  Denison-based Texas Hippie Coalition, or THC to fans, lays claim to the title "Kings of Red Dirt Metal," and will more than likely rock you the eff out. These guys feel like Pantera meets Lynyrd Skynyrd, so horns most definitely up. (Plus, the drummer goes by "Cowboy.") Lead singer Big Daddy Rich recently spoke with Metalocalypse about the Man in Black, horror movies and whether or not the abbreviation of the band's name is a coincidence. See if you can guess. Metalocalypse: When wa

  January 12, 2009

• In The Dark

  January 21, 1999

• Music to Shuffle Off This Mortal Coil

  October 30, 2008

• The Best of ACL Fest

  October 2, 2008

• Totimoshi: Milagrosa

  August 7, 2008

• Soaring on the Wings of a Demon

  Ronnie James Dio has rocked for a long, long time

  August 14, 2003

• Iron Maiden

  May 22, 2008

• Gold Metal

  April 13, 2006

• So, What Is It?

  May 25, 2006

• E.S.T.

  Tuesday Wonderland

  June 7, 2007

• Heaven and Hell

  The Heaven and Hell tour stops Wednesday, May 2, at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, 2005 Robbins Dr., 281-363-3300.

  April 26, 2007

• The Jonbenet

  Wednesday, July 26, at Walter's on Washington, 4215 Washington, 713-862-2513

  July 20, 2006

• Stapp Infection

  Sanctimonious hypocrites need love, too

  March 9, 2006

• Between the Cracks

  Profiling local bands

  February 2, 2006

• Your Government at Work

  November 24, 2005

• The Linus Pauling Quartet

  Songs of the Cretaceous

  November 17, 2005

• Ozzfest

  Saturday, August 27, at the Cynthia Mitchell Woods Pavilion, 2005 Lake Robbins Drive, The Woodlands, 281-363-3300.

  August 25, 2005

• Oneida, with Ume and the Jonx

  Friday, August 12, at Rudyard's, 2010 Waugh Drive, 713-521-0521.

  August 11, 2005

• Corrosion of Conformity, with Alabama Thunderpussy, Crowbar and Suplecs

  Saturday, July 2, at the Engine Room, 1515 Pease, 713-654-7846.

  June 30, 2005

• Hot Shows

  Summertime concerts that will leave you sweating

  May 26, 2005

• Playbill

  October 28, 2004

• Best Jukebox

  September 23, 2004

• Horrific Haikus

  Death-metal band names make for fun magnetic poetry

  September 2, 2004

• Gen-X Gospel

  Ecclesia beckons the young with a blend of Christianity and counterculture

  December 11, 2003

• Sleep

  Dopesmoker (Tee Pee Records)

  October 2, 2003

• Letters

  August 21, 2003

• Party of Helicopters

  Friday, January 4

  January 3, 2002

• Merry Mayhem Tour

  Friday, November 9

  November 8, 2001

• Volume, Volume, Volume

  COC may be edging toward the mainstream, but the metal specialists still refuse to conform

  November 23, 2000

• Stayin' Alive

  Almost Famous writer-director gets by with a little help from Peter Frampton

  September 21, 2000

• People Try to Put Us Down...

  Almost Famous talks about its g-g-generation -- of misguided rock and roll fans

  September 14, 2000

• Jason Aldean

  May 14, 2009

• Heaven & Hell: The Devil You Know

  May 21, 2009

• Aftermath: White Rhino at Boondocks

  Photos by Chris Gray "They're 'classic heavy rock,' or so they tell me," Aftermath texted a friend shortly before Austin's White Rhino went onstage at Boondocks Monday night. "Heavy metal, or just heavy?" came the reply. White Rhino had just gone on, with some menacing guitar spray and a kinetic bassline reminiscent of Detroit proto-punks the MC5. "Heavy. Little/no metal." The band played a couple more songs. "OK...maybe a little metal." Maybe a little more than a little.

  June 30, 2009

• Aftermath: Judas Priest and Whitesnake at Verizon Wireless Theater

  Photos by Eric Sauseda​Rust never sleeps, and metal never ages. Not when it's being worked over by Judas Priest's hammer and tongs, anyway. Friday night at Verizon, the Birmingham blacksmiths smelted a sold-out, juiced-up, colors-sporting crowd - metal bands always have the best merch - with all of 1980's British Steel and a smattering of other alloys, from last year's earth-shifting "Nostradamus" to a pulverizing "Diamonds and Rust" (written by Joan Baez, if you can believe that) and, a

  July 27, 2009

• He Said She Said: Hot, Sweaty, Angry Workout Songs

  ​When it comes to exercise, men and women don't have many different reasons for doing it. Mainly, both genders want to look better naked if perchance they find themselves without clothes on around a stranger they want to sleep with. Life expectancy, general health, and mental well-being are all secondary to looking hotter for your mate or potential slutty karaoke night hook-up. That being said, most guys forgo the treadmill for free weights and the uneasy comaraderie between you and other dude

  August 27, 2009

• Monotonix

  September 24, 2009

• Season of the Witch

  October 22, 2009

• Listology: Before They Split Town, GTRS Pick Their Favorite Make-Out Songs

  ​Houston loses another band after this weekend, as Pavementesque indie-shoegazers GTRS relocates to the more touring-friendly enviorns of Asheville, N.C., where they plan to open a recording studio. Sigh. We're sure they'll come back to visit, and on tour, so let's just say so long and not goodbye. Besides, you've got one more chance to see GTRS as Houstonians, Saturday night at Big Star Bar with A.P. Dugas & the Religion, Sew What and DJ No Fun. In between packing their stuff, the members

  October 23, 2009

• A Rocks Off Playlist: Halloween Songs That Don't Suck

  Yeah... screw this thing.​Let's face it: the Monster Mash blows. So do many of the songs we're forced to suffer through every Halloweentide. A couple of years ago, Rocks Off heard "One-Eyed One-Horned Flying Purple People Eater" on XM Radio's Halloween-themed channel, and wanted to sneak into a haunted house and hang himself just like that urban legend. We won't put you through that. Instead, we've compiled a playlist of a bunch of songs with spooky themes that won't make you want to hunt down

  October 29, 2009

• Three Bassoons Walk Into a Bar...: The Near-Classical "Noncert" at Under the Volcano

  Photos by Chris Gray​ Under the Volcano does not feel like Under the Volcano. The TVs are off, so no more NBA on ESPN. Hayes Carll's Trouble In Mind has come and gone - in its entirety - on the jukebox, taking its bad livers, broken hearts and drunken poet's dreams with it... mostly. Earlier, a regular - appalled that there were actual music stands in the bar's small performance nook - asked Rocks Off if he should "mess with" the members of the Houston Symphony and other area orchestras settin

  November 20, 2009