American heavy metal band OTEP, led by Otep Shamaya herself, one of the most well-recognized metal frontwomen, has just released a new single titled “To the Gallows,” which takes aim at President Donald Trump.
The cut is the lead single from the band’s upcoming 9th record Kult 45, and the song is described by the band itself as a “hyper-political outcry to the resistance to challenge Trump’s falsehoods and hypocrisies.”
“Art is resistance. Art allows us to fight back without violence,” Shamaya said. “This song, ‘To The Gallows’, is meant to shine a light on Traitor Trump’s attacks on the Constitution, on health care, on the LGBTQ+, the African-American, Hispanic and Muslim communities, DREAMERs, and women’s reproductive rights. Not to mention that this spurious president might have committed just a little bit of light treason, but this is why we rally, this is why we march, and this is why I write. Because when I look back some day, I want to know that I did everything in my power as an artist, activist and citizen, to stop him and his bigoted embryonic autocracy.”
The accompanying lyric video offers a quick-paced parade of graphics as Shamaya brands the track “a song for the heretics/to resist the dictatorship.” She raps about Trump as a “traitor” as well as “a morally corrupt demagogue who’s in lust with his daughter so he pays porn stars to dress like her.” The chorus declares, “Blood on your hands/Blood on your suit/Does your necktie/Feel like a noose…We’ll walk you to the gallows, you can choke on the truth.”
Shamaya’s rap cadence is set against a jolting drum beat and sinister guitar accents that bring a dystopian edge to the song. There’s a nervous push and pull to the track, conveying the sense of a divide that’s present in America today.
Check out the new song and video below.
Leave a Comment