Various Artists - 'Like Black Holes In The Sky: The Tribute To Syd Barrett'

It didn’t take long for a tribute album to surface following the death of Pink Floyd mastermind Syd Barrett. The groovy part is Like Black Holes in the Sky: The Tribute to Syd Barrett avoids gimmickry with an all-underground roster of metal, prog and sludge bands.

Syd Barrett’s spacegrassy Piper at the Gates of Dawn is a building block for future stoner, doom and tech metal practitioners. As testimony to the Pink Floyd album’s pioneering spirit, Like Black Holes in the Sky: The Tribute to Syd Barrett hoists six Piper cuts in addition to seven of Barrett’s solo tunes, largely represented by The Madcap Laughs.

Instead of obvious candidates like Queens of the Stone Age on this thing, you get Jesu, Yakuza, Intronaut, Zodiak, Stinking Lizaveta, Unearthly Trance and Kylesa as well as the mighty Pentagram, all likely nominees to do Syd Barrett’s frequently off-kilter music justice.

Jarboe and Giant Squid capture the sheer lunacy of Barrett’s quizzical music on “Late Night” and “Octopus” respectively. Meanwhile, Voivod drummer Away leads his offshoot project Kosmos in a laser-dashed version of “Vegetable Man,” one of the compilation’s coolest tracks.

Other highlights include Intronaut’s “Arnold Layne” as well as the Piper songs like Yakuza’s “Lucifer Sam,” Pentagram’s “Flaming,” Kylesa’s “Interstellar Overdrive” and Dredg’s faithfully trippy interpretation of “Astronomy Domine,” a translucent gem that briefly made Voivod stars.

Appropriate Syd Barrett should be represented by fringe rock and metal bands whose mutual appreciation for where their sounds originate makes Like Black Holes in the Sky: The Tribute to Syd Barrett a rare tribute album with its heart in the right place.