''House of Secrets'' is the second studio album by the American heavy metal band

Otep Otep was an American nu metal band. The band was formed in November 2000 in Los Angeles by frontwoman Otep Shamaya. The band is noted for their style of "art-house nu metal", and their strong political stances. Throughout the course of several ...

, produced by

Greg Wells William Gregory Wells (born 1968) is a Canadian record producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and mix engineer. He has worked with Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Quincy Jones, J*Davey, Burt Bacharach, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Missy Elliott, ...

(

Deftones Deftones is an American alternative metal band formed in Sacramento, California in 1988. They were formed by frontman Chino Moreno, lead guitarist Stephen Carpenter and drummer Abe Cunningham, with bassist Chi Cheng and keyboardist and tu ...

Rufus Wainwright Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright (born July 22, 1973) is a Canadian and American singer, songwriter, and composer. He has recorded eleven studio albums and numerous tracks on compilations and film soundtracks. He has also written two classical opera ...

Mika Mika is a given name, a nickname, and a surname. Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People known just as Mika * Mika (singer) (born 1983), Lebanese-born British singer-songwriter Michael Penniman, Jr. * Mika (footba ...

), and released in 2004. The album entered the ''Billboard'' 200 at number 93. The video for the song "Warhead" made the top ten videos of 2004 on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

's ''

Headbangers Ball ''Headbangers Ball'' is a music television program that consists of heavy metal music videos airing on MTV and its global affiliates. The show began on MTV on April 18, 1987, playing heavy metal music videos from both well-known and more obsc ...

''. This album has been released with the Copy Control protection system in some regions.

Music and lyrics

The album features elements of several musical genres including

spoken word Spoken word is an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a 20th-century continuation of an oral tradition, ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetic ...

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

doom metal Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' ...

and

speed metal Speed metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music that originated in the late 1970s from new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) roots.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' (Berg Publishers, 2007), , p. 31. It is desc ...

. The album is noted for having lyrical topics about insecurity and self-loathing. However, the song "Warhead" has extremely political lyrics.

Critical reception

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' called the album "terrifying" and that it brimmed "with sounds that can warp the psyche." Jill Mikkelson for ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...

'' was more critical of the album, calling the lyrics "way too dramatic and adolescent to stimulate anything but scorn" and said of the overall album being a "little more than another Ozzfest headliner."

Track listing

Personnel

* Otep Shamaya – vocals, bass drum, didgeridoo, cymbal scrapes (11) *

Rob Patterson Rob Patterson (born November 9, 1970) is an American guitarist and composer. Background Patterson was born in Natick, Massachusetts. His first major act was the female-fronted metal band, Otep. He wrote and played on the albums, '' Sevas Tra'', ...

– guitar (2, 3, 10) *

– metal strips (1), steel drums (1), guitar (4-6, 8–12), celeste (5), drums (5, 8, 9), percussion (10), piano (12) * Jason "eViL J" McGuire – bass guitar, back up vocals (3), guitar (4, 5) *

Joey Jordison Nathan Jonas "Joey" Jordison (April 26, 1975 – July 26, 2021) was an American musician. He was the original drummer of the nu metal band Slipknot (band), Slipknot, in which he was designated #1, and the guitarist for the horror punk Supergroup ...

( Slipknot) – drums (2, 3, 4, 6, 10, 11)

Production

* Producer:

* Executive producer: Otep Shamaya * Engineers: Brian Scheuble, Greg Wells * Assistant engineers: Dan Beeston, Monique Mizrahi * Mixing: Greg Wells * Mastering: Roger Lian, Howie Weinberg * A&R: Ron Laffitte * Art direction: P.R. Brown * Design: P.R. Brown * Photography: P.R. Brown

Charts

Album -

(North America)

References

{{Authority control Otep albums Capitol Records albums 2004 albums Albums produced by Greg Wells