Metal and Hardcore

Cannibal Corpse and Napalm Death at Fitzgerald's, 5/10/2013

Cannibal Corpse, Napalm Death, Immolation Fitzgerald's May 10, 2013 By the time the clock struck 9 p.m. at Fitzgerald's on Friday night, it didn't appear possible to cram another black T-shirt into the place. Longhairs were already stacked up past the rafters inside the old club on White Oak, even ... More >>

Napalm Death's Barney Greenway on Thatcher, Nostalgia and the Pursuit of Happiness

Most of the people who pass Mark "Barney" Greenway in the street every day almost certainly have no idea what the man does for a living. His sensible haircut, unassuming demeanor and soft-spoken Birmingham accent betray nothing of his status as one of the most ferocious and accomplished voices in th ... More >>

RIP Jeff Hanneman: Slayer at Verizon Theater In September 2010

Ed. Note: Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman, a founding member of the band, passed away Thursday in Southern California due to liver failure, according to Rolling Stone. Hanneman, 49, had contracted the flesh-eating disease necrotizing fasciitis, which doctors believed was the result of a spider bite, ... More >>

Slip Slidin' Away: My Life as a Rock Journalist With the Houston Press

I had a hernia operation in the early summer of 2006, and had nothing to do all day but hobble around with cool cane a borrowed from Grandpa Hlavaty and play on the Internets for two months or so. I had developed the injury while working at Domino's, but it was cool because their insurance helped ... More >>

Strange Encounters: Five Great Metal Songs About Aliens

In the metal pantheon, lyrical subjects go in and out of style almost as fluidly as fashion and whether a song should have breakdowns or not. It seems almost a guarantee that every few years the entire scene will shift to a new fixation. Just a few years ago, everyone was screaming about their feeli ... More >>

Hell Freezes Over: The Ends of Five Great Musical Feuds

Last month marked the end of one of the great musical feuds of the 1990s. Any Britpop fan knows you can either be a fan of Oasis or of Blur, but not a fan of both. The two bands hated each other's guts and were in constant competition throughout the decade. So all of us in the press were shocked wh ... More >>

Rex Brown's Official Truth: Pantera's Literary Autopsy

Official Truth, 101 Proof: The Inside Story of Pantera By Rex Brown Da Capo Press, 304 pp., $15.47 Back in Pantera's '90s heyday, few fans would have guessed that the first guy to write a tell-all history of the band would be Rex Brown. Though an indivisible component of Pantera's larger-than-lif ... More >>

Five Art Masterworks That Should Be Metal Album Covers

It's not often that you get the opportunity to combine masterpieces of painting and metal. It's not completely unfounded, considering Guns N' Roses copped from Raphael's School of Athens for the cover of their Use Your Illusion set. But it's rare, like mixing pro wrestling and classical literature. ... More >>

Last Night: Testament and Overkill at House of Blues

Testament, Overkill, Flotsam and Jetsam House of Blues February 6, 2013 When it comes to '80s thrash metal, there are the Big Four -- Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax -- and there's everybody else. For a good while there, it looked as if "everybody else" might not survive the grunge- and rap ... More >>

Last Night: Underoath Farewell Tour at House of Blues

Underoath House of Blues January 23, 2013 It looks like all of the members of Underoath finally decided to quit at the same time. The Florida metalcore turned post-hardcore outfit has had no less than 15 people fill its ranks in its 15-year history, leaving the current iteration with no original me ... More >>

Underoath

Friday Night: Whitechapel and Emmure at Fitzgerald's

Whitechapel, Emmure Fitzgerald's January 11, 2013 While Houston's past three generations of metalheads gathered at Warehouse Live for sludge supergroup Down's biennial stop through town, the youngest generation --throngs of deathcore fans -- packed Fitzgerald's to the rafters to see three of the bi ... More >>

Metal Lifers Warbeast Trample Warehouse Live Tonight

For metal fans, it'll be thrash before hash tonight at Warehouse Live when Arlington's Warbeast returns once again in support of Down, the New Orleans sludge metal supergroup fronted by Pantera's Philip Anselmo. Rewind: Down Singer Philip Anselmo Kicks Off Busy 2013 Despite the clash of styles - ... More >>

Def Leppard's Rick Allen and 10 More Miraculous Rock Recoveries

Twenty-eight years ago this week (New Year's Eve), Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen became famous. Well, he was already famous, we guess, for being the drummer for one of the finest pop-metal bands of all time. But on December 31, 1984, Allen became even more famous for being pretty much the only pop- ... More >>

The 10 Best Metal & Punk Albums Too Rough for the Texas 30

So, the Texas 30 has been revealed at last. And it's a good list, too: Well-considered, fair and complete. Even if a lot of the records that got picked tend to be a little... well, pussy, I guess is the word I'm looking for here. Rewind: The Texas 30 (cover story) Slideshow: The Texas 30 album co ... More >>

Geoff Tate

The Rocks Off 100: Willow Villarreal, Hatetank Maniac

If you are under 30 in Houston and grew up going to punk or hardcore shows off Washington Avenue -- when it was still scary for the right reasons -- you were probably there because Willow Villarreal of Hatetank Productions booked the gig. His booking and promoting work helped bring tons of nationa ... More >>

Return to Glory: Rick Rubin's 5 Best Comeback Productions

Recently, Black Sabbath confirmed that record magnate and production auteur Rick Rubin would be twiddling the knobs on their new record, set to be released next year. It will be their first with Ozzy Osbourne on vocals since 1978, and a lot of their reputation is riding on this. Not that it will ma ... More >>

The 25 Creepiest Heavy Metal Album Covers

BY JEFF ROCHE, LA WEEKLY Halloween is the time where it's acceptable to wallow in the creepy, the crawly, the dark, and the macabre. Sounds like the themes of heavy metal, year-round! Here then, are those most spine-tingliest metal album covers, for your All Hallow's Eve viewing pleasure. Step insi ... More >>

Z Rock 106.9 FM Returns In Web Form

A few months back, Heath Bilbrey made waves in Houston by resurrecting the KLOL brand and format with an online radio station. This week Rocks Off has learned that he has also brought back Z Rock 106.9 KKZR from the radio cemetery with the same treatment. "We plan to follow the same formula we are ... More >>

Yes and Zeppelin? 5 True All-Star Near-Collaborations

Quick, what's your dream supergroup, living or dead? When I was a big prog nerd, mine was Peter Gabriel on vocals and lyrics, David Gilmour and Robert Fripp on guitar, Geddy Lee on bass, Bill Bruford on drums, Tony Levin on Chapman stick, and Rick Wakeman on keys. Come to think of it, that still sou ... More >>

Florida's Abiotic Keeps Death (and Death Metal) Alive

It's not really possible to discuss death metal without bringing up the state of Florida. In the early '90s, Floridians Morbid Angel, Deicide, Obituary and Death ravaged the underground with a twisted new evolution of metal that would eventually spread across the globe. In the intervening decades, ... More >>

Are These the Most Anticipated Albums of 2013? Seriously?

A Web site (magazine?) called Loudwire posted their list of the most anticipated rock albums of 2013. The first question we have is "anticipated by whom?" Because if the answer is "people who love music," then we've got some major problems here. 10. Motley Crue Really? The tenth most anticipated n ... More >>

Suicide Silence Speaks

Extreme-metal crew branches out from "blasphemy and God-bashing."

Who Are the Greatest Metal Bands In Texas Music History?

When I asked our friends on the Rocks Off Facebook wall who they thought were the greatest heavy metal bands in Texas music history, the response was larger than I thought it would be. I assumed five of you would say Pantera, deadhorse and King's X and go back to sleep, but no. You stepped up and g ... More >>

Iron Maiden Gets Superfan Treatment In New Coffee-Table Book

Rewind: 10 Iron Maiden T-Shirts Sure to Prove Your Metal Cred Maiden Nation is counting the hours before Saturday night's gig up north at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, but any self-respecting Iron Maiden fan should have been cuddled stoically studying Neil Daniels' new tome Iron Maiden: The ... More >>

Iron Maiden

(UPDATED) Burn the Lies: CNN Calls Hatebreed a "White Power" Act

If you would have told me 15 years ago that CNN and Hatebreed would be butting heads, I wouldn't have believed you, but that's where we are in 2012. This week, in the wake of Sunday's tragic Sikh temple shooting in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, news outlets reported that gunman, Wade Michael Page, a 40-ye ... More >>

Kill 'Em All and the Origins of Thrash

Twenty-nine years ago today, Metallica released their debut album on Megaforce Records, Kill 'Em All. It wasn't a smash success initially--Mötley Crüe were the reigning kings of metal on the West Coast in 1983, and Kill 'Em All wouldn't go gold for another six years. By that time, of course, Metal ... More >>

10 Heavy Metal Double Albums That Make Us Want to Buy a Turntable

This week, one of our most highly anticipated albums of the summer was released: Baroness' Yellow & Green. We were already looking forward to hearing whatever came next from the Georgia rockers after the success of their epic Blue Record in 2009, but we got especially excited when we found out that ... More >>

Last Night: Mayhem Fest Jagermeister Stage at The Woodlands

Mayhem Festival Side Stage Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion July 11, 2012 Holding the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival at a suburban amphitheater on a weeknight posed a few serious logistical problems, for the touring company and concertgoers alike. In order to meet the venue's curfew, several ... More >>

Last Night: Anthrax, Motorhead & Slayer at Mayhem Fest

See more metal and Mayhem from Wednesday in our slideshow. Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion July 11, 2012 This year's main-stage bill is probably as close to a genuine, bona fide legacy that Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival will ever come up with, ever. Be ... More >>

Which Mayhem Festival Band Do Parents Hate Most?

The biggest traveling heavy metal festival of the summer rolls into the Woodlands Pavilion tonight. The annual Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival has stepped its game up significantly in 2012, dropping metal titans Slipknot, Slayer, Anthrax, Motorhead and more onto Houston's well-groomed northern ... More >>

Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival

Happy Birthday, Phil Anselmo: The Trendkiller's Top 5 Side Projects

On June 30, ex-Pantera and current Down frontman Philip H. Anselmo turns 44 years old. For a while there, it didn't look like he was going to make it this long. The metal titan suffers from chronic back pain caused by degenerative disc disease in his spine, and beginning in the mid-'90s, Phil self-m ... More >>

Curated Festivals and the Changing Face of Summer Entertainment

While most Texans are spending their Friday counting down to ACL or speculating about the Fun Fun Fun Fest line up, I find myself thinking about a festival north of our fair state. We're halfway through June and that means that the 2012 Gathering of the Juggalos infomercial should be dropping any da ... More >>

Geoff Tate

Slow, Loud & Bleedin': haarp's New Orleans Sludge Backs Up Into Bayou City

If you're a metal band rolling into Houston for the first time, there aren't too many better guys to have backing you up than Phil Anselmo. The ex-Pantera front man is unabashedly worshipped as a metal god throughout Texas, and when he speaks, Houston's heavy music fans listen. Lately, Anselmo has ... More >>

Friday Night: That Big Metal Show At Bayou Music Center

That Big Metal Show Bayou Music Center March 23, 2012 Early in his band's set on Friday night, Downfall 2012 front man Danny Gil told the crowd to expect something special. "Get ready for a metal show like you've never seen," he said. Gill wasn't exaggerating -- Downfall 2012 delivered a dense s ... More >>

Friday Night: Megadeth At Verizon Wireless Theater

Gigantour: Megadeth, Volbeat, Lacuna Coil Verizon Wireless Theater March 2, 2012 Check out our slideshow of the Gigatour. No, Motorhead didn't play in Houston Friday night at Verizon Wireless Theater, but the rest of the 2012 Gigantour bill of Megadeth, Volbeat and Lacuna Coil made it to the Bayou ... More >>

Lacuna Coil's Cristina Scabbia Talks Gigantour, Dark Adrenaline

Conventional wisdom used to be that the hyper-masculine world of heavy metal would never fully embrace a female superstar, but that was before Lacuna Coil's Cristina Scabbia hit the scene. Armed with a soaring contralto and a humble attitude that belies her striking beauty, Scabbia has converted mor ... More >>

Which Metal Bands Should Reunite?: Revocation Tells Us

Tony Norkus/ www.facebook.com/Revocationn​The music industry has lit up with some pretty high-profile reunions in the past few months. At The Drive-In and Refused both announced comeback shows within days of one another, and even Black Sabbath decided to reconvene for a new album and a world t ... More >>

Children of Bodom

Sweet Feet: Dave Lombardo And Double Bass-Drum Domination

Slayer's Dave Lombardo is destroying a couple of bass drums just out of frame.​Forty-seven years ago today, drummer Dave Lombardo was born in Havana, Cuba. Never heard of Dave? That's okay. If you've listened to any heavy metal in the past 25 years, you've definitely heard his influence. Roun ... More >>

Machine Head

Drum Kit From Hell: With Bill Ward Out, 5 Replacement Drummers For Black Sabbath

Drummer Bill Ward, furthest right, has left the band.​Black Sabbath's big reunion plans seem to be cursed. First, guitarist and the only consistent member of the band Tony Iommi was diagnosed with lymphoma. Then they had to drop out of playing Coachella due to Iommi's diagnosis. The latest spe ... More >>

Rock Star Energy Drink Mayhem Festival Announces Houston Date: Includes Slipknot, Slayer, Anthrax And More

This morning, the lineup for this summer's mega-metal fest, the Rock Star Energy Drink Mayhem Festival, was released. It includes re-activated act Slipknot, warhorses Slayer, Anthrax on the Jagermeister side stage, and a third act to be named on March 5. This roadshow hits Houston on July 11 at the ... More >>

With a Rebel Yell: 10 Rockers Gone Country

Photo by Matthew KeeverAaron Lewis at the Verizon Wireless Theater in 2010.​When Staind singer Aaron Lewis rolls into Verizon Wireless Theater tomorrow night, odds are he'll leave his mudshuvel back at the hotel. As modern rock radio turns to the next generation of angst, the former Fred Durs ... More >>

Gigantour Hitting Houston March 2 With Motorhead And Megadeth

And just like that, my normally non-soiled jeans were not. Yes, March 2 the traveling metal bonanza Gigantour is hitting Houston's Verizon Wireless Theater, with Megadeth, Motorhead, Lacuna Coil, and Volbeat in tow. Are we excited? A little. Kind of a fan of Motorhead fan and all. Megadeth last ca ... More >>