Namesake and lead singer Otep Shamaya has been compared vocally to a combination of Marilyn Manson and Kim Gordon, an unholy alliance if ever there was one. But she has as distinctive of a voice as any in extreme music.
"Perfectly Flawed" is a perfectly realized slice of jagged but catchy metal pop, complete with a "sensitive" girly vocal (as opposed to the punky shriek Shamaya employs on most other songs) and an infectious undercurrent of double-time riffage woven beneath the obvious power-ballad chords.
Shamaya does let up the assault briefly on "Milk of Regret," although the gentle, slightly Middle Eastern guitar figure gives way to a Metallica-bombastic herd of thunder. She also is able to convincingly negotiate a nightmarish memory of the trauma of abuse, transforming it into breathless art: "I just can't forget / the blood / the stitches / the bite marks / the kisses / the glass memories reflecting back." Cathartic, right? But impossible to forget.
