★★★★★
Contemporary metal has a difficult task to perform. It is fantastical, whimsical, and playful, while simultaneously asking its listeners to take it seriously and experience a range of intense emotions that are rarely explored directly though contemporary popular music. A tremendous amount of contemporary popular music either focuses on real-life situations and discourses of authenticity, or wallows in ironic detachment...
- www.popmatters.com
2013-02-26
★★★★★
Sound: The latest Otep album may be named after a Catholic holy day, but it makes perfectly clear that it's a bit on the darker side from the first track. The_Ascension is the latest offering from the Los Angeles-based band, which is led by the versatile vocals of female vocalist Otep Shamaya and explores the seedier, often creepier side of life...
- www.ultimate-guitar.com
2012-04-12
★★★★★
"'The Ascension' is quite possibly one of the worst albums I have ever heard in the almost ten years I've been listening to metal." After listening to Otep's third album, "The Ascension," I can't help but feel the nostalgia of the sub-par artists and scene kids who made post-grunge and nu metal a trend of the late 90's and early 2000's...
- www.metalunderground.com
2010-12-21
★★★★★
Otep are a band I had previously heard of via a few contacts, particularly during the era where a band was deemed nu-metal regardless if they had elements of other genres. After managing to gain support from Sharon Osbourne while unsigned, they've managed to gain somewhat of a cult following over the past few years from fans of the music and also Otep's lead vocalist's support of various causes such as PETA. She can also lay claim at being the only known lesbian in the metal genre...
- hangout.altsounds.com
2010-11-02
★★★★★
Otep Shamaya is a man-eater ? and a microphone-eater and probably a raw-goat-meat-eater, too. The titanium-tonsilled female singer for the L.A. goth-metal quartet that bears her name can switch-flip from church-burning black priestess to breathless stalker to lava-barfing lust machine, hungry to convince the world it needs a Satan-friendly version of Evanescence's Amy Lee...
- www.blender.com
2010-08-22
★★★★★
Purging childhood trauma is by now common in heavy metal, but "Jonestown Tea," the final track of the first album from Los Angeles quartet Otep, is a doozy. While the band roils through a multipart metal maelstrom, singer Otep Shamaya evokes her memory of being raped. Like a performance artist, she sobs, pants and begs, and even admits some guilt and, frighteningly, pleasure...
- www.blender.com
2010-08-22
★★★★★
Sound: I know it is a cliche but this band is pure friggin metal. When Marilyn Manson was asked about Otep's frontwoman known only as Otep (who would have thought) he said "That girl scares me." Being called scary by Manson, nuff said. Otherwise the vocals are tortured and heavy as crap with grinding guitars. Even a little bit of hiphop (TRIC). Overall an album to bang your head to. // 10 Lyrics and Singing: Haunting and scary...
- www.ultimate-guitar.com
2009-11-15
★★★★★
Sound: Overall this record sounds a lot like their Jihad ep. The only thing is since this is their first full studio album they didn't try to stray far from the sound they established during Jihad. Which if you haven't heard is a very good thing. Otep decided to include, in one way or another every song from the Jihad ep (except "Germs," the one song from Jihad I wasn't too fond of). Overall this sound can be summed up in two words, heavy and creepy...
- www.ultimate-guitar.com
2009-11-15
★★★★★
Sound: If Evanescence is Linkin Park with a chick singer, then Otep is like that compared to Tool or Mudvayne. The drumming is awesome, the guitar is nice and loud, and they have a very noticable bass. There's also a bunch of random sounds mixed in there, and the result is pretty scary. If it had the rating, I would give it a 4 1/2. // 8 Lyrics and Singing: Honestly, how many chicks do you know that can scream like this...
- www.ultimate-guitar.com
2009-11-15
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