Type O Negative — Dead Again (SPV) He's survived an insane asylum, jail and rehab and now Peter Steele is back to tell us about all three with requisite doses of misery and barbed humor. This is the band's first offering to feature live drums since 1993's Bloody Kisses, and it may be the heaviest since then as well. For fans of Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, goth chicks, razor blades.

3 Inches of Blood -- Fire Up the Blades (Roadrunner) The third album by this Vancouver sextet is full of galloping beats, classic metal guitars and dueling vocals that veer from vibrato-laden shrieks to growls that make our stomachs rumble — or maybe that's the cheap coffee we bought at Costco? Equally potent are the lyrics about battle, babes and fire-breathing beasts. Does anyone else predict a Dungeons & Dragons renaissance?

Dragonforce — Inhuman Rampage (special edition) (Roadrunner) Only their name has anything to do with winged monsters, but Dragonforce have proven that their technically proficient, insanely melodic speed metal is as powerful as a meth-fueled warrior with a double-edged sword. The reissue of last year's classic features the bonus track "Lost Souls in Endless Time" and a DVD with two music videos and a behind-the-scenes rockumentary. Will the real Dethklok please stand up?

Alex Skolnick Trio — Last Days in Paradise (Magnitude) Testament's fleet-fingered guitarist delivers his third solo album of jazzy progressive tunes. In addition to a handful of originals, this one includes covers of Rush's "Tom Sawyer," Ozzy Osbourne's "Revelation (Mother Earth) and a Spanish version of Testament's "Practice What You Preach" called "Practica Lo Que Predicas." Que divertido!

Unsane — Visqueen (Ipecac) In the early ‘90s, before noise-metal was really marketable, this New York trio built a following by playing bludgeoning songs and releasing records that featured real-life gore on the sleeves (The Internet later stole their thunder). After a couple break-ups they're back with studio album number six, which is less noisy than their noisiest, but no less heavy. The art's a little mellower, though. Good thing there's rotten.com (enter at your own risk).

To paraphrase Eminem, won't the real Black Sabbath please stand up? About five years ago, Ozzy entered the studio with the rest of Black Sabbath to record some tracks, which have not yet surfaced. To further complicate matters, Sharon Osbourne said last October that a new Black Sabbath album featuring Ozzy would come out in late 2007, though it's unclear when the members will all find the time to get together and record it. No, the first new Black Sabbath songs to be released since 1998 have nothing to do with Ozzy and will be on the album Black Sabbath: The Dio Years, which comes out March 13.

The new tracks, "The Devil Cried," "Shadows of the Wind" and "Ear in the Wall," feature Ronnie James Dio, who fronted Sabbath from 1980 to 1983 and again from 1991 to 1993. Rhino Records has posted a stream of "The Devil Cried".

For most of this year, the Dio-fronted Black Sabbath will be touring under the name Heaven and Hell, starting in Vancouver on March 11. So far, the only U.S. date is March 30 in New York.

And now, the groovalicious video of "Paranoid".