Pink Floyd founder Richard Wright, photo courtesy of www.telegraph.co.uk
A little over a week has passed since Pink Floyd founder Richard Wright died at age 65 following a bout with cancer. Obviously, Pink Floyd were hardly a metal band, but their impact on the heavy metal genre is impossible to deny. And it isn't just psychedelic and atmospheric acts like Neurosis, Opeth, Mastodon, Isis, Pelican and Nachtmystium that were influenced by Floyd. The intensity of songs like "One of These Days," "In The Flesh" and "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" and "Welcome to the Machine" was comparable to the tension and dynamics of metal. And the desperation, darkness, anguish and fatalism in the vocals and lyrics is as gloomy as that of any Sabbath-derived doom band.

And that's why a bunch of stoner, doom and experimental metal bands have gotten together to create Like Black Holes in the Sky: The Tribute to Syd Barrett. As the title explains, the album is actually a tribute to early Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett, whose madcap antics and excessive drug use and erratic behavior earned him an early dismissal from the band -- despite the fact that he wrote the majority of Floyd's stunning debut, 1967's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. He was replaced by David Gilmour, who, over the next two decades, helped Pink Floyd reach creative and commercial heights few imagined possible. Barrett died of diabetes in July 2006 at age 60.

Click "more" to stream Like Black Holes in the Sky: The Tribute to Syd Barret, which features such acts as Kylesa, Jesu, Intronaut, Unearthly Trance, Giant Squid, Stinking Lizaveta, Pentagram and Yakuza. Read more...

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).