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Sevas Tra

Otep - Sevas Tra Audio CD

A fair review of the Otep "Sevas Tra" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Otep reviews here, or go back to the Otep tabs.

Band: Otep
Title: Sevas Tra
Rating:

Release Date: 2002-06-18
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Tortured 2: Blood Pig 3: T.R.I.C. 4: My Confession 5: Sacrilege 6: Battle Ready 7: Emtee 8: Possession 9: Thots 10: Fillthee 11: Menocide 12: Jonestown Tea

Inside the mind of the disenchanted

Simply defined Otep is Otep and it is shown in this debut album where she tackles so many of her demons in tracks like Tortured, My Confession, Emtee, and significantly Jonestown Tea, where she describes what it was like inside the mind of a person who has been sexually abused

The album has become a definitive album for many Shadow Soldiers(Otep's Die hard fans), and has defined her music since it was first pressed

I myself, Heard Battle Ready before picking it up and was slightly surprised that the lead singer was a female, but the music she weaves has become something I can relate to even though it makes me uncomfortable at times because it shadows my own mind a lot

Many people say that Otep is not worth her grain in salt but to me and to many who listen to the music we know that her music is just the evolution of her thought and her fans thoughts . I have had this for a while, though I haven't reviewed it Sevas Tra is the LP debut of Otep, a band who is hard to define.

Otep Shamaya's Split Personality is a Monster
This is the perfect example of why Amazon needs more than five stars to rate an album, because this is better than four stars but definately not quite five. You wouldn't think it to look at her but you can probably tell that when she sings she's the monster. I would've given this full stars except I usually always end my Sevas Tra listening after the song "Possession" because after a song that superior it's hard to find appriciation for the last four tracks although "Jonestown Tea" is an excellent way to end the album (awesome proliferations). I have yet to buy any of their other albums but after giving this a few listens I think it's highly likely.

On a side note I'd like to mention how I happened upon this band through people mentioning similarities between them and Kittie. But, while it is true that ultimately Kittie and Otep have a similar sound, I find more appriciation for Kittie sticking strictly to metal with no rap-core undertones. That being said I also want to point out that I realize how misleading saying that Otep has rap undertones in it is, because honestly I would not find that enticing; in fact quite the opposite. However Otep pulls it off very impressively. You should definately give them a chance -with this album in particular. .

The Pat Benetar of Heavy Metal
This is the way female head bangers do it!. What Pat Benetar did for rock, Otep is doing for heavy metal.

Otep - "Sevas Tra"
Otep Shamaya screams with the best of them, and has lyrics that completely f--king pummel any of the competition. Otep comes out hitting real hard on this album.
The first liner notes read, "Learn as if you were going to live forever; live as if you were going to die tomorrow. "
An example of her lyrical ability is, "To all you weak m. c. 's, all you hardcore wanna-be's, if you step into the ring be prepared to swing. "
The chorus of "Battle Ready" reads, "Battle Ready! poets gonna take control, Battle Ready! souls violate parole, Battle Ready! violently invade your home, breaking the bones, Of those who pose!
The guitar riffs are deep and hard, to say the least. This band is not for the timid. Growling, screaming, and poetry. . . I LOVE IT!
AND. . . The end of the liner notes has the bands muses listed as follows: "our fans, sappho, frederick nietzsche, charles baudelaire, artemis, isis, kali, jean-paul sartre, jack kerouac, allen ginsberg. . . and many more including aleister crowley, timothy leary, and kurt cobain. If you are familiar with even just a few of these amazing historical figures, then you will have an even greater appreciation for this band. THE END.

Brutal, fragile, explosive and vulnerable; Otep proves they have what it takes...
On `Sevas Tra' it is apparent that Otep is striving to find their place in the world of metal. Don't let the three stars fool you, I absolutely love this album, but the fact still remains that this album is not as earth shattering as some would make it out to be. Are they rap metal? Are they death metal? Are they poetic metal? Are they that rare breed of sentimental metal that exposes the darkest of human suffering? On `Sevas Tra' they come off as a little of both, and sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. When you move from something as brutally assured as `Blood Pig' into something as confused as `T. R. I. C. ' then you know that, while Otep is bursting forth with potential, they are still defining themselves.

I think that Otep found themselves lost in their delivery, trying hard to figure out which way they were going to go with their sound. Their subsequent follow up albums have shown the way in which they went with their music (thankfully in the right direction) but here they have an amalgam of opportunities, some of which take away from the brutality of the album overall.

Let's get the bad out of the way.

A band of Otep's ferocity, and trust me they are ferocious, should stay far away from anything related to rap metal. KoRn is a thing of the past and they should know and recognize this. You can't justify the transfer from blood curdling screams to lines like "to all you weak MC's" because it takes away from the brute forcefulness of what you are trying to deliver. So, `T. R. I. C. ', for one, is a mess. `Battle Ready' works better than `T. R. I. C. ' in the regard of mixing metal with rap but in the end it is still rap metal and I just hate that Otep attempted this sad excuse for a music genre. At least in `Battle Ready' the musical composition is sic (yes; that is a good thing).

`Sacrilege' works for the most part, and I just love the chorus, but Otep kills the whole intensity of the song when she sings about smoking Christmas `green'. Continuing their trip into rap territory is `Possession' but this track is much harsher than its predecessors and comes off less rap and more fast speech if that makes any sense. Neither of these tracks is bad, but neither of them is truly astounding. A little tweaking and they could have been brilliant.

Now we'll get into the good.

The album opens with one of the most brutal tracks Otep has ever graced us with, `Blood Pig', a song that is so intense and blistering that the listener's hopes are immediately up after experiencing it full force. I still can't wrap my head around the idea that this vocalist is a female. Her raw intensity and rage is unbelievably forceful. `My Confession' is yet another merciless track that deserves recognition, and `Menocide' slams the listener in the face with brutal riffs and blood curdling screams. `Fillthee' may fall in the line of rap metal, slightly, but I can't help but embrace this track. It's sincere and very well constructed. It is probably the most commercial and or radio friendly track on the album, but that does not take away power behind it.

Then we have the. . . strange.

Otep has made the eerie poetic line reading their calling card and on `Sevas Tra' this form of metal appears on a few tracks. `Thots' is probably the most recognizably poetic in that it feels as if you're attending one of those poetry readings in some dark night club. `Emptee' is much better in my humble opinion. It's dark and fragile, very vulnerable and it is elevated by the explosive conclusion. The album also opens and closes on a very dark and fragile note, one that is as disturbing as it is intriguing. `Tortured' is a spoken word introduction that leads the listener to the understanding that Otep did not have a very nice childhood. That initial thought is further proven when `Sevas Tra' comes to a blistering conclusion in the controversial `Jonestown Tea' which makes KoRn's `Daddy' sound like a Britney Spears track. Otep is very emotional and open here, exposing her wounds for the world to see. It's one of those songs that, while disturbing and vulgar, can easily bring you to tears.

On `Sevas Tra' Otep proves they have major potential, potential that they thankfully developed into an amazing sophomore album. It is not the second coming, but it proves that they have in them what many bands can only dream of conjuring up. Embrace `Sevas Tra' for what it is, highlights as well as flaws, and know that Otep will be here for years to come.

You can see a complete list of all Otep discography, or go back to the Otep tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.