House of Secrets is the second studio album by the American heavy metal band Otep, released on July 27, 2004, through Capitol Records. Recorded in late 2003 with producer Greg Wells at Rocket Carousel Studios in Los Angeles, it is a death metal, nu metal and heavy metal album whose songs alternate between aggressive metal segments and atmospheric passages. In an effort to raise the band's technical level, vocalist Otep Shamaya enlisted Joey Jordison of Slipknot to play drums on six of its tracks. Its lyrics explore themes of abuse, angst, self-loathing, paranoia, healing, self-determination, and breaking out of victimhood.
House of Secrets received mixed reviews from music critics, who praised its songwriting and Shamaya and Jordison's performances, though some criticized its lyrics as overwrought and overly self-loathing. The album debuted at number 93 on the US Billboard 200 chart and number 102 on the French Albums chart. "Warhead" and "Buried Alive" were released as singles with music videos. Otep performed on the second stage of Ozzfest and toured with Kittie and Crisis in 2004, before embarking on the headlining Alliance of Defiance and Mouthful of Madness tours in 2005.
Background and recording
Otep began working on House of Secrets after performing on the Ozzfest tour in support of their debut album, Sevas Tra (2002). "Buried Alive" was first song written for the album. Vocalist Otep Shamaya said that going into the album, she was frustrated with what she saw as the "fabricated" way albums were made and sought to create memorable songs without using standard structures. She also wanted the album to raise Otep's "technical level", with aggressive drumming providing its "dominant rhythm". Otep's record label Capitol Records did not pressure the band to come up with more commercial material, and were encouraged to be as true to themselves as possible by their A&R representative.
Otep recorded House of Secrets in late 2003 at Rocket Carousel Studios in Los Angeles with producer Greg Wells. Shamaya described Wells as a "mentor" for Otep, praising his musical and instrumental abilities and crediting him with pushing the band musically. She worked on songs with Wells based on how she was feeling at the time. Jordison composed his parts around instrumentals that Otep played for him; according to Shamaya, he almost asked the band to record the songs live. Once recording was completed, House of Secrets was mastered by Howie Weinberg and Roger Lian at Masterdisk in New York. and heavy metal album incorporating gothic, The album's songs feature drop-tuned instruments, dynamic shifts, and loose, unpredictable arrangements alternating between aggressive metal segments and atmospheric passages. Shamaya alternates between growls, guttural screams, whimpers, whispers, singing, and spoken word poetry. Shamaya said that the "house of secrets" in the title referred to "the deepest, darkest depths of the personality in which the true self lies hidden", "Warhead" is the only political song on House of Secrets, "Warhead" is a death metal-influenced antiwar protest song against then-United States president George W. Bush, whom Shamaya portrays as an illegitimate and undemocratic leader and accuses of misleading the American public and politicians into supporting the Iraq war. She subsequently calls upon her "tribe" to join an "alliance of defiance" to stop both him and the war. "Buried Alive" features a "haunting" bassline and sees Shamaya repeat the lyric "I hate my life" against "a backdrop of white-light distortion". Shamaya used the song as an outlet for pain and depression she was feeling at the time, "Hooks & Splinters" is about making art and internal conflict between creation and destruction. <!-- 7-12 -->
"Gutter" is a spoken word piece "Suicide Trees" was inspired by the thirteenth canto in Dante Alighieri's Inferno, where people who commit suicide are turned into trees. Shamaya said the song decipts a "dark forest, filled with thoughts of death" she escaped through "the power of art". The song incorporates "neo-tribal drumming" and progresses as a "spacey" monologue for six minutes before culminating in a "requisite sonic explosion", according to Chuck Campbell of the Knoxville News Sentinel. Shamaya viewed "Nein" as the most "different" song on House of Secrets, citing its arrangements and vocalisation styles, and described "Self-Made" as a "heretical hymn, entirely dedicated to the cult of myself". Christa L. Titus of Billboard highlighted the latter song for its use of rapped vocals. It was released as an Enhanced CD featuring the music video for "Warhead", poetry, drawings, photographs, and voter registration software (in co-operation with MTV's Rock the Vote campaign). Limited editions of the album were shipped with anaglyphic 3D artwork in a red and blue CD case that could be used to view the liner notes. The album debuted at number 93 on the US Billboard 200, surpassing Sevas Tra peak at number 145, and at number 102 on the French Albums chart. The "Warhead" video entered rotation on Fuse and MTV2's Headbangers Ball, From July 10 to September 4, 2004, Otep performed on the second stage of Ozzfest, marking their third appearance at the festival. During the tour, Shamaya and McGuire hosted a radio program for XM Satellite Radio called The Front Line and conducted interviews with attendees, artists, and staff. The band then joined the Metal Movement Tour (2004) with Kittie and Crisis. Rios left Otep following the tour and was replaced by Scotty CH in January 2005. From January 29 to March 15, 2005, Otep headlined the Alliance of Defiance tour with American Head Charge, Bloodsimple, Candiria, and The Autumn Offering, after which they embarked on another headlining tour, Mouth of Madness, with Gizmachi, Devil Inside, Daysend and Manntis from May 12 to June 30, 2005.
Critical reception
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