Ufych Sormeer - Crazy MAC (2006)

Any metal album titled Crazy Middle-Ages Cyborgs (provided words like "raw," "brutal," or "nu-" come nowhere near the description) is almost a guaranteed purchase for me. I was already familiar with Ufych Sormeer from their first album (which I picked up mostly because the band name was an Elric reference), but that was fairly straightforward symphonic black metal. Now they've gone someplace completely different and hard to pin down. Helloween on LSD? Whatever it is, it's over the top, but it works for me. Read the review linked below, but ideally you'll hear them yourself at the band's MySpace page.

Lordsofmetal review

Ufych Sormeer official
Ufych Sormeer's MySpace

Buy Crazy MAC @ The End Records

Star One - Space Metal (2002)

Star One is/was a side project of Arjen Anthony Lucassen, the concept album wizard behind Ayreon. The music is prog-power metal, a bit heavier and more straightforward than most Ayreon albums. Each track on Space Metal is based on a different science fiction movie/book/show: Alien, Dune, Star Wars, Stargate, Dark Star, Blake's 7, and more. If that weren't good enough, the 2 CD limited "digibook" version contains a Hawkwind cover medley featuring Hawkwind's own Dave Brock, who apparently is famous for not collaborating with anyone. The bonus CD also includes a cover of a 70's folk song, "The Intergalactic Laxative," the lyrics of which are sheer genius:

My romantic vision shattered,
When it was explained to me,
Spacemen wear old diapers
In which they shit and pee.

(Full lyrics here.)

Ayreon's albums are almost exclusively based on SF concepts, plus they're great, so you'll see them here shortly. In the meantime:

http://www.ayreon.com/

Buy Space Metal at Amazon.
(Wherever you get it, be sure to get the Limited Edition. The packaging alone is worth the extra cost, not to mention all the extra tracks.)

Asterius - A Moment of Singularity (2003)

This album sounds like nothing else, and as soon as I heard it four years ago it gained a permanent spot in my top ten. Asterius' roots are in symphonic black metal, but there's much more going on than that. Encyclopaedia Metallum calls them "gothic/symphonic blackish metal," and the band has called its own style Bizarre Space Metal. Either one will do. With titles like "Continuum," "Multiverse" and "Gemini North" there's no question they belong here.

http://www.myspace.com/momentofsingularity
http://www.asterius.net/

Buy it. $10.99