OT3P Owns the Stage

Several weeks ago I ran into a friend whose day-job used to be at a Café that I frequent. The Foglifter Café is where I actually met him. We hit it off because we were both musicians that were into metal. He's actually the growling front man for "Condemn The Infection" out of Flagler Co, FL.

On this particular day, he was selling tickets for an upcoming show that his band was trying to be one of the three local acts that would open for a Major Act. That Major Act just happened to be OTEP, who was touring in support of their just Released Smash the Control Machine. Needless to say, I bought four tickets for the the show being held at Brewster's Pit in Jacksonville, FL.

We positioned ourselves right upfront Stage Right.

Opening the show was my friend's band, Condemn The Infection. Like the other two local bands that were given the opportunity to open for a Major Act, they were given a real short set. Theirs was a meager 11-15 minutes. They made good use of their time it gave it their all.

They were currently with-out a Bass player but didn't let that hamper them whatsoever. Their performance was straight forward hard driving metal that took no prisoners. Their musicianship was extremely tight for such a young band. Once they get a another bass player to fill in the bottom end of their sound, they could be a contender.

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Next up was Jacksonville's Tempest Reign. They had an old school metal meets Nü Metal sound. They list Black Sabbath, Pantera, Suicidal Tendencies and Slayer as well as many current bands as influences. Their melodic brutal performance would do those bands proud yet make them say, "Why didn't I think of that..."

Front man Joe De Luca was a class act by getting the fans in attendance to shout and cheer for all of the bands performing that night.

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The last local band to play was an obvious local Jacksonville favorite, My Own Sin. I actually had heard their music before this concert on ReverbNation where I had added them to my favorites and joined their mailing list.

They are a female fronted band from Orange Park, FL, that incorporates keyboards into their musical arsenal. Front woman Danie Ross combines beautiful, ethereal melodic vocals with uncommon screams and growls that punctuate the solid wall of sound from the instrumentalists.

They were definitely an aural treat.

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Taking the stage next was the national touring opening act, Seven Year Existence. This band hails from Champagne, IL and caught on fire quickly with their old school Thrash and Death Metal sound. This band got the Mosh Pit into high gear.

Vocalist/Guitarist, Luke Heppe, was good at working the crowd. He kept telling the crowd to "..show me those horns!" He made eye contact with several of us in front of him and stopped playing the guitar long enough to give us the horns back. He would make this unusual sound in a couple of songs, especially during Of Thine Father's Flesh that could best be described as a growling whistle.

Musically speaking, Heppe, Jason Ellett (guitars), Phil Solgard (bass) and Wenis (drums) crank out the music that would make the founders of the genre sit up and take notice.

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The fifth band to take the stage was Des Moines, Iowa's Destrophy. They are more of your traditional Nü Metal band mixing melodic and gutteral vocals.

They put on a great show that was perfect for psyching up the audience for the headliners. Near the end of their set they got the crowd to start yelling enough "so she can hear you!"

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Finally, OTEP took the stage. Bassist "Evil" J. McGuire got the show cranking with his mad playing skills to which drummer Moke and guitarist Rob Patterson. Otep "Danger" Shamaya leaped up onto her monitor and grabbed her mike and started in on their first number.

Through-out the entire performance, Otep had the now fully packed venue bouncing, fist pumping and shouting "Rise! Rebel! Resist!" Otep commanded a stage presence like none other and had the audience's undivided attention and admiration.

The band played likely a finely tuned sports car and Otep's voice was perfect through-out the melodies and fits of guttural growls. Her voice was the truest and purest that I've ever heard when compared to her recordings. What you hear on the record, is what you hear live, only better.

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Title track of their new album: