I have only read the first book and it worked pretty well as a conclusive piece of story. It introduces and explains the basis of a very interesting universe, although I didn't like the pacing and writing too much.
Cannot just choose one band, so:
Led zeppelin
Clutch (specially early stuff)
Megadeath
Dark Tranquility (Mostly because of The Gallery album)
In Flames (before they left the melodic death style)
Death
Perturbator
And I'm recently hearing a lot of Franz Ferdinand.
Atomkilla has a good point explaining how stimpacks would work outside "game-rules" (that is, insta-healing without further medical logic for the sake of not dying). It's also supported by the fact that the healing effect is not instantaneous in NV's hardcore mode and neither does it heal broken...