Thursday, January 31, 2013

Final Otep album is a pile of shit

Nu-metal band Otep have released their sixth and final album Hydra. The album is based off of a graphic novel that vocalist Otep Shamaya has been writing for close to two years. Otep have always been known for their albums being a mix of songs that are heavy and emotional and more traditional and then seven minute long spoken word wastes of time.
After four stellar albums, Sevas Tra, House of Secrets, The Ascension and Smash the Control Machine, the band released their awful album Atavist. On that album Shamaya got lazy in her songwriting and the songs weren't as great as past hits like "Warhead" and "Sacrilege."
Shamaya has said that Hydra is inspired by American Horror Story as well as her graphic novel and that really comes out on the shitty ass "Hematopia," "Necromantic" and "Quarantine" that all blend together to form one big mess. Then there's the spoken word "Voyeur." This "song" is a spoken word pile of garbage about a kid who takes webcam videos of himself killing animals. Shamaya then goes on to murder him and rip out his jaw. Hot mess.
There are some real songs like "Blowtorch Nightlight" and "Hag." These two are the best songs on the album, but there isn't really anything memorable about them. Other songs like "Seduce & Destroy," "Crush" and "Feral Game" are also more traditional songs but lack the spark that older Otep songs had. There are no meaningful lyrics, no catchy screamed chorus, nothing to make each song stand out.
The single "Apex Predator" is a hip hop song that is weird, but something about it works. Yet these moments of greatness are overshadowed by the weird spoken word songs like "Livestock" and "Theophagy."
This album makes me sad because Otep announced that Hydra was their last album and they're going out on such a low note. Otep's fans are so loyal that they love this terrible album. It's sad that a person's past work can blind people from the atrocity that their last two albums have been. Thankfullly Otep will never make another album again.

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