Generation Doom

The seventh LP from the always provocative and unrepentant Otep Shamaya-led group, Generation Doom finds Otep as punitive as ever, raging against the machine and then some via an 11-track assault that touches on everything from LGBT rights to Isis. The album's earliest moments are also its most brutal, with Shamaya's politically and socially charged lyrics delivered with Gatling-gun ferocity over an equally vitriolic nu-tech-metal foundation -- Shamaya's newly adopted climate change/Mad Max-inspired Imperator Furiosa guise, which adorns the cover, adds even more fuel to the fire. Opener "Zero," as in "Zero fuc#s given," is a blistering rap-metal rant that's also surprisingly fun. Same goes for the aptly named "Feeding Frenzy," which sees sees Shamaya continuing to administer negative fuc#s over a thick bedrock of double kick-drum-saturated buzzsaw guitars/synths that invoke "Burn"-era Nine Inch Nails. The Middle Eastern-tinged "Lords of War" -- "I'd rather be in battle than in peace, I'd rather be a wolf than a sheep" -- introduces a darker, more cosmopolitan sort of momentum, but a poorly conceived, Marilyn Manson-esque cover of Lorde's "Royals" quickly kills the mood. However, late-album highlights like the defiant "Equal Rights, Equal Lefts" -- "He called me a dyke, I called him an ambulance" -- and the punishing title track help to elevate some of Generation Doom's less immediate offerings, resulting in another relatively solid outing from the group that should please fans both old and new.