Otep: Fists Fall – new video / Atavist – new album

 

‘Atavist’, fifth full-length album by American alternative metal band OTEP is set for April 26th, 2011- release via Victory Records. OTEP is led by enigmatic frontwoman Otep Shamaya who explained the forthcoming album thusly: “This album is a return to the umbra, to the darkest parts of me. I am fortifying this fortress of sound with Cyclopean masonry. [?!] The language on my lips is forged from forbidden tongues twelve lifetimes old. I am the heart of the gorgon, the broken mind of the lunatic, the courage of the martyr, the voice of the insurrectionist, the agog of the alchemist, I am the defiance in the aching souls waiting for the flame, I am the mighty Minotaur raging against the labyrinths of isolation and sadness. There is a purposeful primal spirit to this record, a coded provocation to remember our connection to the infinite, to the mysterious, to each other.” Be as it may, ‘Atavist’ will be released as a standard CD and as a CD/DVD deluxe edition (with expanded artwork and a poetry book, with the DVD featuring interviews, a poetry reading montage, behind the scenes footage and music videos). Album's drum tracks were recorded by ex-DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN drummer Gil Sharone. The above video was directed by Robby Starbuck.

OTEP was formed in 2000 in Los Angeles, USA, by Otep Shamaya – an artist, a published poet and political activist. The band -comprised of musicians known as Rob (guitars), Moke (drums) and eVil j (bass) - was signed after only four live performances and without a demo in existence, after Sharon Osbourne offered the unsigned act a spot on the 2001 Ozzfest Tour. First album, ‘Sevas Tra’, was released in 2002 through Capitol Records: “Female lead singer Otep, whose name is an Egyptian suffix meaning “creative offerings”, growls, screams, and throws in the occasional hip-hop sound as she wipes the slate clean of any preconceptions of how intense a female-fronted metal band could be,” wrote AllMusic's Charles Spano. Band's second offering, Greg Wells-produced 2004's ‘House Of Secrets’, debuted at number 93 on the American albums chart Billboard 200. OTEP's third album, ‘The Ascension’, produced by Dave Fortman, fared even better on music charts, debuting at number 81 on Billboard 200. And yet higher up the charts went band's debut for Victory Records, Ulrich Wild-produced 2009's ‘Smash The Control Machine’: “While growing more comfortable with her range, Shamaya bounces from pseudo-raps to squelching metal yelps, and even tries a breathy ballad along the way. Lyrically, she also takes more risks. Influenced by her time doing poetry readings on HBO's “Def Poetry”, she confronts society's ailments head-on, addressing the overabundance of pill-popping, media brainwashing, and apathetic behavior in American culture. Of course, as an album that will probably get heavy rotation in the Hot Topic stockroom,” observed AllMusic's Jason Lymangrover.