Artist: Otep
Label: Capitol Records
Release Date: 6/18/02
Rating: 4 Skulls
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Title: Sevas Tra Artist: Otep Label: Capitol Records Release Date: 6/18/02
Rating: 4 Skulls |
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Reviewed by Ember (8/19/03):
The band is Otep, and the album is Sevas Tra, ("Art Saves", if you happen to be dyslexic). Otep is yet another female fronted band to join the metal circuit, but you have to keep in mind that this is not your typical "chick band". Then again, Otep Shamaya is not your typical front woman either. She doesn't try to be the sexy metal goddess that every metal dork loves, nor is she a Hot Topic whore that claims she's metal, but really doesn't have a fucking clue. Otep is made up of many different elements that make for one hell of a time bomb. By the way, this bomb is waiting to explode, and there is no way you can stop it. Like it, or not.Otep is not just a singer/songwriter. She is also an artist, a poet, a writer, a web designer, and she is a political advocate for victims of child abuse, domestic violence, rape, and incest. With all that under her belt, it makes for an interesting album that is full of rage, and maniacal insanity. Sevas Tra is 13 tracks long, plus there is one hidden track. From beginning to end you are brought on a sick and twisted journey seen through the mind of the victim. The emotions are so real that you can feel the pain that this person is going through. It is really fucked up, but at the same time it is quite mesmerizing that such feelings can be portrayed so realistically.
The actual sound of Otep is a montage of many different styles. You can hear death and thrash metal as well as rap core and nu metal, all rolled up into one. Now I am not too fond of nu metal or rap core, but for whatever reason I think that the band makes it work quite well. To compare them to other bands I would have to say that they might be like Korn, without the cheesy, whiney vocals, but they also sound like a death metal version of 311's heavier tunes.
Sometimes, I hear the incorporation of Mike Patton's signature singing style, combined with Brian Fair's old school Overcast style screams, except for the fact that they are coming from a woman, of course. She also has a very different singing style from most women in metal today. She has hip-hop roots, which makes for an interesting twist both lyrically and vocally, and on top of all that she has a very good singing voice. She captures pure, raw emotion with each note she belts out. As for the rest of Otep, I can say that the guitars are pretty basic, but at the same time very powerful. One minute you might hear a slow doom sounding riff, but in an instant it changes to heavy, crunchy, and distorted chaos. The bass style is a mixture of funk, thrash and slap bass, and the drum style is very death and thrash metal oriented. All together it is pretty damn crazy, and indefinitely unique.
Otep takes nu metal to a whole new level. They make bands such as Disturbd and Slipknot seem like even bigger chumps than they already are, if you can even believe that. It took about twelve spins to decide that I liked Otep's alternate approach to the nu metal style, and the message that it speaks so intensely about. If you are open minded, and willing to give it more than one shot than I think you should check it out because you might be surprised.
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