A long time ago in a galaxy not at all far away, Star Wars fans had to wait years -- sometimes more than a decade -- for the next installment of the sci-fi franchise. That's changed in recent years, as Disney (who now owns Star Wars) has been cranking out new films annually. The latest -- Solo: A Star Wars Story -- comes just months after Star Wars: The Last Jedi. 

Like Star Wars, the subgenre of space metal takes its inspiration from, well, outer space. In fact, space rock has been “a thing” since even before man took one small step and one large leap onto the Moon’s surface, yet heavy metal didn’t blast off toward the final frontier with any regularity until the 1990s and beyond. Today, we finally have a reasonable number of space metal albums worth praising. So, if you aren't feeling like listening to one of John Williams' classic Star Wars scores on the way to and from the theater when you're going to see Solo: A Star Wars Story this weekend, may we recommend some of these?

Behold: 11 Great Space Rock + Metal Albums You Need to Know. Strap in because the countdown is about to begin … five, four, three, two, one, we have liftoff!

More From Loudwire