Revolting Cocks

Your Obscure Black Sabbath Primer: 10 Deep Cuts For Beginners

It seems so fitting that the most exciting year in Black Sabbath news since they hooked up with Dio again in 2007 ends with the number "13." That's also the name of the band's new record, which undoubtedly you've already heard the first single, "God Is Dead?", if you're a Sab fan at all. "God is De ... More >>

Getting to Know Nine Inch Nails All Over Again Through Ancient YouTube Footage

With the coming return of Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails to the touring and recording grind, fan excitement is at a high. It's almost as high as it was when NIN finally followed up the massive Downward Spiral with The Fragile double disc in 1999, or when they returned again six years after that for ... More >>

R.I.P. Texas Metal God Mike Scaccia

The Texas metal community lost a major creative force over the weekend when Ministry/Rigor Mortis guitarist Mike Scaccia passed away in Ft. Worth. He was 47. Scaccia collapsed onstage at Metroplex metal haunt the Rail Club early Saturday morning, where he was performing as part of a 50th birthday ... More >>

Rex Brown On Moving On, Kill Devil Hill & Smoking Dope With Dio

To fans, bassist Rex Brown was always a bit like Pantera's answer to "The Quiet Beatle," typically overshadowed by the more outsized personalities of his bandmates. Nevertheless, his contributions to the group's groundbreaking metal groove were undeniable, and as a founding member of the band, he wa ... More >>

Friday Night: Stryper At House Of Blues

Stryper House of Blues May 18, 2012 A dedicated legion of Stryper fans cheered on Friday night to bang their heads to the bands greatest hits along with a few excellent covers. Stryper came out in full yellow-and-black attire while lead singer and guitarist Michael Sweet crooned a version of "Bat ... More >>

Stryper: Christian-Metal Kings

Michael Sweet explains what Stryper learned from Judas Priest and Van Halen.

Supergroups: 10 Bands That Sprang From Other Bands

From the remnants of other great bands are often birthed more great bands. Oftentimes these little side projects go under the radar unless you are a hardcore fan, or the new band itself gains a lot of airplay or word of mouth. Either way, some of the greatest rock bands of all time have been birthe ... More >>

Keep It Up: 5 Songs For Viagra

It was on this day in 1998 that your email inbox was changed forever when the FDA OK-ed the use of Viagra for use in treating erectile dysfunction, the first pill in the United States approved to do so. The drug was originally researched as a treatment for angina, but doctors noticed that while it w ... More >>

6 Musicians Who Messed With Texas

Today, March 2, is Texas Independence Day, the day a bunch of old white politicians and landowners declared this part of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas to be its own sovereign republic in a cabin near Washington-on-the-Brazos. For some inexplicable reason, Rocks Off does not have the day off ... More >>

Iron Men: Five Rock 'n' Roll Cancer Survivors

Sad news emerged today that heavy metal godfather Tony Iommi has been diagnosed with the early stages of lymphoma. It was a big shock for Black Sabbath fans, as the group's original lineup have a new album and a world tour planned for 2012. Though already counted among rock and roll's ultimate sur ... More >>

Never Say Die!: Black Sabbath Reforming In 2012 For Tour & Album

​Today in Los Angeles, legendary, pioneering heavy metal group Black Sabbath convened in front of reporters at the Whiskey A Go Go to announce a 2012 reunion tour and album, set for a fall release. The event, hosted by Henry Rollins, was telegraphed by a countdown clock on the band's official ... More >>

Tony Iommi: Music's Other Man In Black Proves His Heavy Mettle

​Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath By Toni Iommi with T.J. Lammers Da Capo Press, 416 pp., $26. Imagine this passage being read in your best "Behind the Music" narration: It was in the center of a dirty, grimy sheet-metal factory in Birmingham, England, when a 1 ... More >>

Dio Disciples Keep Ronnie James' Metal Flame Alive

When Ronnie James Dio succumbed to stomach cancer in May 2010 (some reports say it occurred here at M.D. Anderson), heavy metal lost its arguably greatest voice. And with a career spanning decades in bands like Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath/Heaven & Hell, and his own Dio, he left a lot of material to ... More >>

Dio's Last Stand: Heaven & Hell Live In Europe

​Heaven & Hell Neon Nights: 30 Years of Heaven & Hell Live in Europe Eagle Vision, 150 minutes, $14.98. When Black Sabbath 3.0 got together a few years back to record some new material for The Dio Years compilation, neither Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, nor Vinny Appice probabl ... More >>

Five More Heavy Metal Christmas Carols

​Last year's unholy Christmas metal list was so popular, we decided to reach back into our quasi-Santanic bag and find five more songs for you to blare while trimming the tree and wrapping presents. We made our list too late to catch Rob Halford's Christmas album, Winter Songs. Otherwise it ... More >>

Faith And The Muse Invade Numbers For Live DVD

​As far as we know, no full concert films have ever been shot at Numbers. Oh, Asmodeus X and Provision did some music videos, and some awesome footage of a Revolting Cocks performance has made the rounds, but no full-on concert films. After seeing what Marc Moorash of Seraphemea did with Faith ... More >>

Five Other Bands Calvin College Won't Invite Anytime Soon

​Calvin College, the "distinctly Christian, academically excellent liberal arts college" in Grand Rapids, Mich., doesn't want you to associate the school with pornography. That means no New Pornographers show: Regrettably, Calvin College has decided to rescind its invitation to the band, The ... More >>

5 Rock Deaths That Shook Us Down

​It was sometime this past Saturday night that we first heard that Ronnie James Dio was dead. It was after midnight and we had just bellied up to the Mink's front bar when we checked our Twitter feed and saw that Dio had passed on. Our body froze every metal bone in our body ached for a few minute ... More >>

R.I.P. Ronnie James Dio, Gone To His Metal Reward

R.I.P., Holy Diver.​Ronnie James Dio resumed his post as God of Earth, Heaven and Hell Sunday, after a 67-year mission on Earth correcting errors in previous gospels through heavy metal. His earthly form was diagnosed with stomach cancer in November 2009. As of this March, Dio was still optimisti ... More >>

Throwing The Devil Horns For Dio One More Time

Ed. Note: This article first appeared in the Houston Press in August 2003, when Dio (the man and the band) played the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. ​It's a ubiquitous sign for the ages. Whether thrown in rapture or irony, the pinky-and-index-finger extended "devil horns" might mean something di ... More >>

Monoliths & Dimensions: The Best Metal Records of 2009, Part 1

​This year was such a good one for heavy music, I wound up having to cheat when putting this list together. I just couldn't settle on ten albums that kicked my ass the hardest in 2009; there were dozens of candidates. The best I could do was fourteen, so each of my top four slots are ties. 10. Meg ... More >>

In Wishing Ronnie James Dio a Speedy Recovery, Our Life as a "Holy Diver"

​Metal legend Ronnie James Dio is one of those musicians you've probably always been aware of, even if you haven't counted yourself a huge fan. Rocks Off can sympathize, for while we've personally gone out of our way to seek his music, we've always taken it for granted that Dio would be there, hov ... More >>

Revolting Cocks

Fall In

Distant Early Warning: Cobra Starship, Har Mar Superstar, KISS, Nitzer Ebb, The Used, etc.

​"3rd Annual Texas City Music Fest" With Jerry Jeff Walker, John Conlee, Texas Johnny Brown: Sat., Oct. 24. Nessler Park, Texas City. Bob Schneider: Fri., Sept. 25. Warehouse Live. The Bravery: Sat., Oct. 24. Warehouse Live. Cobra Starship, Boys Like Girls, A Rocket To The Moon, The Maine: Sun., ... More >>

Inquiring Minds: Judas Priest's Rob Halford

 Tonight, Judas Priest, led by the inimitable metal god Rob Halford, hits the stage at Verizon Wireless Theate less than a year since the leathermen last graced Houston. They came to the shed out in the Woodlands last August, headlining the "Metal Masters" tour with Motorhead, Testament and Hea ... More >>

Heaven & Hell: The Devil You Know

Aftermath: Masters of Metal at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

Judas Priest's Screaming Seer Rob Halford

Master of Metal

Black Sabbath: The Rules of Hell Box Set Reviewed

Tonight: Valient Thorr at Rudyard's

Friday Night: Ministry, with Meshuggah and Hemlock, at Verizon Wireless Theater

Ministry's last trip across the land of rape and honey

Just One Last Fix

Get Lit: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath by Joel McIver

Rotation: Heaven and Hell (CD); Live at Radio City Music Hall (DVD)

Heaven and Hell

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

A Blighted Slough of Smells, Steel and Chemicals

Touring bands sound off on Houston

A Revolting Show

Music Awards Survey

A rundown of every act on this year's bill

Soaring on the Wings of a Demon

Ronnie James Dio has rocked for a long, long time

Man Over Machine

Stabbing Westward masters the art of human noise