Friday, March 6, 2026
The Cosmic Clash

heavy metal

Bryan Ritchie courtesy of Bryan Ritchie
Case CockrellInterviewsMusic News

Interview: The Sword’s Bryan Richie works hard to sustain the Austin music scene

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If you’ve spent any real time in the Austin music trenches, you know the difference between hype and longevity. Bryan Richie has been on the longevity side for over 20 years. Between his work with The Sword, Spaceflight Records, and his electronic outlet Galactic Protector, he’s watched the local ecosystem evolve through boom cycles, venue shakeups, and the streaming era’s slippery slopes. We caught up with him to talk about staying busy, supporting artists the right way, and why Austin’s scene, while ever-changing, is far from dead. Richie is gearing up for a European tour this year while celebrating the 20th anniversary of The Sword’s triumphant debut Age of Winters, and will release the sequel to his 2019 solo record on February 24. We caught up with him to discuss the upcoming release and why the Central Texas music system still matters and how every bit of fan support is crucial to making it all happen. 

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Weedeater 9 Lost Well Justin Clark
Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: Weedeater played Austin metal stronghold The Lost Well

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If you haven’t taken a trip to the new location for Austin’s legendary metal stronghold, The Lost Well, put a pilgrimage to the East Austin music venue high on your to-do list. The Lost Well returned in August this year with a vengeance, and the gig calendar has been stacking back up to a blistering, business-as-usual. According to owner Marcello Murphy, Tuesday night (December 16) for Wilmington, North Carolina doom metal act, Weedeater was the new Austin space’s biggest ticketed show yet.

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Boris Mohawk Drew Doggett
Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: Boris brought metal shapeshifting to Mohawk

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Heavy metal in 2025 is in a healthy, hell-charged state. Bands are experimenting with the genre like Deafheaven, Full of Hell, Sunn O))), and even Austin acts like Portrayal of Guilt. For Tokyo, Japan’s Boris, a wave of extreme metal shapeshifting has paved the way for an everlasting gauntlet that’s redefining heavy music for 2025. With releases that dabble in drone metal, doom metal, and noise/experimental rock, Boris arrived for a Tuesday night gig in downtown Austin that came as a stop on their US tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their landmark tenth studio album Pink. For their third local appearance in two years, the Japanese berserkers stormed the stage at Mohawk in the Red River Cultural District yet again to astronomical results. 

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Calavera CATIL Justin Clark
Live MusicReviewRobert Dean

Live music review: Cavalera Conspiracy played Chaos A.D. in full at Come & Take It Live

Robert Dean 2034 Views ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

I’ve seen a lot of bands do the whole “playing the seminal album” thing over the years. For a long time, the gold standard was Roger Waters doing Dark Side of the Moon—an experience that was incredible both visually and sonically. Despite being a much smaller affair, the Cavalera brothers gave that experience a run for its money, performing their masterpiece Chaos A.D. at Come and Take It Live on Friday, October 17. If you’re a Sepultura fan, this was probably the closest, tightest, and most raw celebration of that album you’re ever going to get.

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Acid Bath Levitation 2025 Drew Doggett
Live MusicReviewRobert Dean

Live music review: Acid Bath, Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol led Levitation 2025 metal day

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Hats off to the folks behind the scenes at Levitation Festival. They pulled off a diverse event at a little-used location to great effect. The Palmer Events Center sounded great and showed a lot of promise for what the festival can be in the future. Keeping parking at $10 a day was a smart move that kept fans happy. The food and drink options were crazy expensive, but I understand that goes with the territory of putting a festival on – but on the real? $19 for a brisket sandwich is banana town. Just walk down the street to Whataburger next year. 

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Pigs x7 29th St Ballroom Troy Gonzales
Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs delivered bone crushing riffs

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Newcastle’s Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs (or Pigs x7 to make things easier) has been on a steady barrage of bone-crushing riffs, a consistent stream of records, and travels throughout the world to deliver their flammable methodology of sludge metal to the masses. Fresh off the release of their 2025 full-length Death Hilarious, the Pigs quintet covers all their bases with down-tuned guitar strikes and relentless, raw vocal aggression. With Nashville alternative metal act Waxed in tow on this run of shows, the double bill wrapped their tour in Austin at the under-new-management 29th St. Ballroom, sending things off with a deafening display of power on Wednesday, August 27.

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Ozzy Osbourne
Music NewsRobert Dean

Music news: celebrating Ozzy Osbourne in death is saying goodbye to an old friend

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Music is like an emotional sledgehammer to our lives; it’s the soundtrack to moments, to milestones. Everyone has those songs that, upon hearing them, transport them back in time. Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” is that time machine for many, a raucous small rip of mind fuck that fuels speeding cars, hot sex, or wild montages of cocaine and whiskey medicine. It’s a few moments of perfection, which the band never intended to be anything but album filler. That’s the majesty of the band – they created a genre: Heavy Metal. And the four lads from Birmingham experienced their fruits in real-time. Yesterday, Ozzy Osbourne, the King of Metal, passed on

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Black Sabbath Back to the Beginning poster
Live MusicReviewRobert Dean

Live music review: Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath – The Tired King of Metal Gets His Final Bow

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Someone online said something profound about Ozzy’s final performance with Black Sabbath at Villa Park in their hometown of Birmingham, England on July 5: they called him a tired king. And as that tired king looked out over his court, with the whole world watching, he gave one last welcome to those still loyal to his heavy metal kingdom.

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Greg AckermanLive MusicPhotos

Live music photos: Third annual Big Dumb Fest by Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol at Mohawk

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Austin hard rock band, Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol hosted their third annual Big Dumb Fest June 14 at legendary Red River Cultural District venue, Mohawk. The self-styled Doom Wop band curates the lineup themselves, hand-picking each local act invited. This year’s roster included Bat Lips, Gus Baldwin and the Sketch, Glime, The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, Subpar Snatch and Gran Moreno for an all night affair. BDF included food pop-ups from Bad Larry’s Burgers, Grandpa’s Glizzy’s and Sucio Boy Burgers to feed the hungry hard rock fans attending.

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Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: Metal madness with GWAR at Radio East

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It’s Halloween every day in GWAR land. The Richmond shock metal outfit has been at it with their comically serious hustle since 1984.  Despite numerous lineup changes and the untimely passing of David “Oderus Urungus” Brockie, the chaos, vibe, feel, spew, and unhinged madness at their shows remain intact. At Austin’s Radio/East on Thursday night, the long-running spectacle ensured nothing was safe in their mesmerizing presentation.

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BOCPURPLEWIDE Casey Chumbley
Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: 50 years of Blue Oyster Cult at Paramount Theatre

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For Long Island’s Blue Oyster Cult, the heavy metal and hard rock foundations still burn through as an enormous source of inspiration for artists both past and present. At the historic Paramount Theatre, in a rapidly gentrifying Austin, fans of all different backgrounds made their way to Congress Avenue to witness a legacy over 50 years in the making.

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