Sgt. Sunshine - Sgt. Sunshine (2007)

So this is a rather funny name for a band regardless of what they play. In this case we have a german band with members coming from diverse ethnic backgrounds (at least hispanic I suppose, since there's a couple lyrics written in spanish) that play some sweet ass stoner in the vein of Kyuss or Sleep. However evident their influences are (which is a lot in Sgt Sunshine, really) they don't limit themselves to just copying Holy Mountain and Sky Valley, and they put together a really good album that is nicely diverse with no song that sounds exactly like any other, and while not inventing anything new, at least it's done with great skill, lots of good ideas and killer riffs everywhere.

Summer is definitely the best time for stoner rock. In a coupe days I'm gonna go for a week of holidays in the beach and the sun, and I think I'll be playing this on repeat all the time.

peace

Dažd - Dažd (2009)

What, is there any actual metal band in Serbia?
I discovered this band because of their split with other blackened crust band (namely Order of the Vulture, who are awesome btw) and their only song on there was enough to instantly make me check this band out. Anyone familiar wit OotV will probably have an idea what to expect from Dažd, but to those who doesn't, this is somewhere in between crusty sludge a la Dystopia, some serious Amebix, Hellhammer and first wave BM worship and everything slowed down a tad to get a doomy feeling. Vocals are rather scarce throughout the album but when they appear they are like raspy scream somewhere in between a black metal shriek and your typical crust vocal style, and the singer contributes really well to set the dark, apocalyptic atmosphere that metallic crust is so effective in casting. Lyrics apparently deal with anarchy, paganism, nuclear war and other funny things, though I obviously don't understand a single word the guys shout to the microphone. They seem to be fairly simple anyway, and you can pick the words from the song titles being repeated over and over again

Also, if any of you suckas happen to not like this, it's also a fairly short listen so you won't need to suffer for more than thirty minutes. Hope you like it though.

derp