Former Lounge Lizard and compulsive prosthetic-limb collector Erik Sanko was never likely to be anyone's pop star, so it wasn't much of a surprise when his gothic junk-rock outfit Skeleton Key didn't make it past one major-label album. But the group's subterranean lurch had friends in low places, and after a creepy solo disc, Sanko has resurrected the moniker with a new line-up and the new Obtanium -- imagine a cross between Tom Waits's Bone Machine and Girls Against Boys' Cruise Yourself -- for Mike Patton's Ipecac label. Tonight (Thursday, October 24) Skeleton Key are at the Middle East (617-864-EAST) in Cambridge; Saturday they're at Rudy's (203-799-9006) in New Haven.

If Skeleton Key's middlebrow horror doesn't yank your crank, perhaps some of the old lowbrow horror will do -- like Alice Cooper, who takes time off from the golf course to present an evening of traditional shits and giggles, including "I'm 18" and a Britney Spears-eating guillotine. He's at Foxwoods Casino (800-200-2882) in Connecticut on Wednesday, the Orpheum (617-931-2000) in Boston on Halloween proper, and the State Theater (207-780-8265) in Portland on November 1. Or how about lots of metal dudes dressed up in masks? No, not Slipknot, the other guys. That's right: Mushroomhead. Slipknot may have beat them to the mask thing, but the Mushroomheads have a killer touring bill, with New England thrash revivalists Shadows Fall and dark-forest doom overlords High on Fire opening up. They're at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel (401-272-5876) in Providence tonight and the Palladium (800-477-6849) in Worcester on Saturday. Or how about Maynard Keenan with his shirt off? Tool are back at the Augusta Civic Center (207-626-2400) on Saturday and Tsongas Arena (978-848-6900) in Lowell on Monday, this time with Jack Osbourne's favorite Swedish math-metal band, Meshuggah. For a bling-bling Halloween, try Jam'n 94.5's Monster Jam at the FleetCenter (617-931-2000) in Boston on Sunday with P. Diddy, Jay-Z, Eve, and Ludacris. Or for something truly frightening, try the scene at the sold-out Worcester Centrum (617-931-2000) on Wednesday, as the stars of the TV talent-show series American Idol compete in the real world of pop stardom. For the record, we still think Tamyra got robbed.

Halloween's as good a time as any to revisit the glory days of alternative rock. Ask nicely and maybe the Violent Femmes will play "Country Death Song" when they hit Avalon (617-423-NEXT) in Boston on Friday, Lupo's on Saturday, and Toad's Place (203-562-5589) in New Haven on Sunday. Or maybe Lou Barlow will drag out the Sebadoh chestnut "Vampire" when he plays solo at the Iron Horse (413-584-0610) in Northampton on Wednesday and the Middle East on Halloween night. We're presuming the Mighty Mighty Bosstones will dig up "Devil's Night Out" when they hit Toad's Place tonight, Lupo's on Friday, the Webster Theater (860-246-8001) in Hartford on Wednesday, and the Palladium in Worcester on Halloween. And the Reverend Horton Heat won't be quite so hot unless he plays "The Devil's Chasin' Me" on Wednesday at the Met Café (401-861-2142) in Providence before kicking off a three-night stand at the Middle East on Halloween.