### Otep: Atavist

#### 30/06/11 || Love Lagerkvist

My relationship with Otep is sort of like a double edged sword: On one hand, I find myself immensely enjoying the parts where the instrumentation takes a step back and singer feminine extraordinary Otep Shamaya goes all Diamanda Galás and starts exploring her just how much she can do with those chords of hers. But then the horrible nu-metal parts kick in, and I find myself in a status of near coma. Because of this, I’ve only really listened to the debut album “Sevas Tra”, so I was quite intrigued to see if, and how, they’ve evolved over the years.

Sadly, the difference is quite minimal. The guitars are still firmly stuck in the land of alternative metal, even if the they’ve spiced them up a little by adding element of modern groove metal here and there. So is this a fault? Depends on who you ask, but for someone like me who never really “got” the style to begin with, the are still as uninteresting as ever. It’s actually quite sad, as the vocals are just as excellent as ever. Mrs. Otep shows an incredibly varied spectrum of styles inducing everything from Gossow-class grows to her unique cleans, often switching between them in every other sentence.

Instead, just as on previous efforts, we have to relay on the the more experimental spoken word tracks “Baby’s breath” and “Bible belt”, to entertain us. And boy if they do. Mixing an unsettling backdrop with Shamaya’s cold, angsty, vocals these two artcore oddies make for patches of brilliance in the otherwise dark tunnel of lackluster songs that make up the rest of the album. Why there isn’t an Otep album just with these kind of tracks I don’t know, but then again life has a tenancy not to make sense.

In hindsight, listening to “Atavist” makes me depressed. Not as a result the music is written in an emotionally touching way, but because Shamaya’s vocals would make for an amazing album with some interesting instrumentation. But until then, Otep are a band stuck in the lesser end of the score spectrum.

- Information
- Released: 2011
- Label: Victory Records
- Website: www.otep.com
- Band
- Otep Shamaya: vocals
- Rani Sharone: bass
- Gil Sharone: drums
- Markus Estrada: guitars

- Tracklist
- 01. Atavist animus
- 02. Atom to adam
- 03. Blood of saints
- 04. Remember to forget
- 05. Skin of the master
- 06. We dream like lions
- 07. I, alone
- 08. Baby’s breath
- 09. Fists fall
- 10. Stay
- 11. Bible belt
- 12. Not to touch the earth (The Doors cover)