Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 07/27/2004
The sophomore effort from art house
nu-metal practitioners
Otep only briefly flirts with the genre's anarchic political leanings (
"Warhead"), focusing instead on the medium's most revered theme: angst. The lupine howl of a shattered youth proclaiming that "I hate my life" is nothing new, so when frontwoman -- and namesake --
Otep screams the phrase endlessly throughout
"Buried Alive," she's channeling everyone from
post-rock mouthpieces
Gordon Gano and
Exene Cervenka to
pop/rock tunesmiths like
Roger Waters and
Ricky Nelson. This would be all fine and dandy if the music contained a mere particle of the cathartic spirit of the aforementioned artists. When
House of Secrets isn't pummeling the listener into submission with predictable riffs and distorted vocals, it's leading the listener into a sterile waiting room -- bereft of even the most mundane periodical -- of
spoken word poetry wrapped in tedious post-
Nine Inch Nails soundscapes.
Otep is at her most genuine on the title cut, an atmospheric dirge that finds the artist assuming a sultry
Chrissie Hynde-like croon, but it's merely a deviation from an exercise that in its entirety is mediocre at best.
~James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide
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