Huata (France) - Open the Gates of Shambhala EP (2009)

Tracklist:
1. Alchemist Reborn
2. Diving in a Swamp
3. Ratzinger Pussycat
4. Jozef Fritzl Syndrom
5. Rotten Dick
Total playing time 34:18

Erm, despite having seen the Fullmetal Alchemist series, I've not been left with much knowledge about Shambhala, the Buddhist Kingdom of Heaven. Lucky for me, there's always wikipedia. "Shambhala is a Sanskrit term meaning swayam + bhala meaning self benefited or swayam + bala meaning self powered. Commonly it is understood to be a 'place of peace/tranquility/happiness'." What is this self-sufficient happy place? The perfect anarchist commune? You can scratch that 'cause "Shambhala is ruled over by a line of Kings of Shambhala known as Kulika or Kalki Kings, a monarch who upholds the integrity of the Kalachakra tantra." And, well, "another interpretation postulates that Shambhala is an actual kingdom whose geographical location can be found in the precolonial Philippines."

I figure all that shit is subjectively interesting, HOWEVER, according to Huata, Shambhala is the fucking gutter - a properly filthy shithole this side of Stephen O'Malley. Musically, we're in for colossal doom, blasphemous ritualistic nudity, a kindergarten full of Tony Iommi's ugly spawn, Burning Witches in Miserable Churches, and a whole load of sonic coercion. Huata's lyrics include non-fullmetal (yet quite metal) alchemists, papal vaginas, recreational swamp diving, Austrian monsters, and very old cocks. Well, at least I think that's what it's about. I mean, jeez, the things that people get-off to these days! I hear that way way back, before the days of Black Sabbath, all the hip lads and lasses got their kicks out on route 66 playing the blues, notwithstanding the apparently enticing qualities of sado-masochism, coprophagia, and God-knows-what else (although he'd rather not know, really) you youngsters wallow in diligently this year of our lord two thousand a-a-a-and ten. The EP was released in 2009, though, and it came to me through the blessed World-tubes as a bitchslap with the best intentions. I mean, sludge generally feels like that weird kid in elementary who just doesn't know what to say, but he tries, and tries, and somehow ends up on the topics of bowel-movement and Hitler (recalling the ghost of under-appreciated Nottingham endless doom act Vat of Fat). Give him a break - the poor kid's just trying to make friends. But anyway, listen; Carcinos (guitar, vocals), Vkng Jzz (bass, guitar, also of Cadillacs & Dinosaurs), and Coco (drums [no longer part of the band]) will tie you up and make you swallow a huge slop of top notch sludge, and you'll probably like it. I know I did.

Open the Gates of Shambhala for free (both direct downloads of 7z archives):
- MP3
- WAV

100 CD copies soon to be pressed. Pre-order here (-I- €6.66 -I-).