Otep releases their first live album ever and it’s exactly how I remember it sounding when I saw them live. They are loud, fierce and a metal force that is nothing to take lightly. They are heavier nu-metal sound, argue with me if you want but Otep’s lyrical formula is definitely of that style. However, their music always seemed to lean towards more of the heavier side. Otep was one of the first band’s I listened to that featured a female handling the vocals in such a beast manner. She is a mean mother fucker with a message who doesn’t need to show skin to get her point across. Before Arch Enemy was a thing and way before these bands started pumping out aggressive females to handle their vocals, Otep was already putting out albums and touring their asses off. They are the pioneers of female vocalist who earns respect through her music and voice, not how she dresses or undresses.
Old hits such as “Battle Ready” and “Filthee” puts me right back to a younger time, when I was going to school rocking this shit. It’s a good live album! I’ve heard a fair share of live albums in my day and this one ranks up there as being a great sounding, well produced and very well performed. It doesn’t flow as gracefully as some, either the editing is off in between songs or they just didn’t seem to care because a song will just end with no crowd ambiance and then the next track will start all of a sudden with the crowd making noise. One thing this album captures that I didn’t care for in person was the talking in between songs, I know it’s all apart of the art and the story telling but it’s frankly just annoying as hell to me. Just play the metal!!!
“Sounds Like Armageddon” is a solid live album and they should be proud to have released such a great sounding, nostalgic capturing album. I’ve seen Otep live 3 times and besides the actual show being absurdly loud, this album captures exactly what takes place during their show. If you’ve seen them live this is the perfect way to relive your experience, just press play, turn it up and enjoy.