Atavist

Atavist is the fifth studio album by American metal band Otep. The album was released on 26 April 2011 through Victory Records. This is the first album to not feature long-time bassist Jason "eViL j" McGuire who left the band on September 30, 2010. Recording Otep commented on their approach to the album's recording process; “Going into recording ATAVIST I wanted to feel, not think. I wanted to allow my subconscious to take over and let it guide me. I wanted to be a bit more primitive and emotional in sound and approach and I think I conquered that. I’m very proud of it." Songs We Dream Like Lions Otep discussed the song in an interview to Metal Riot;I was watching a documentary about all the recent suicides of Gay and Lesbian teenagers due to bullying. Matthew Shepard was one of the people that showed up in the documentary. The song started out inspired by those events, and I use “inspired loosely”…a reaction to those events. I didn’t wanna just write a sad, sad song. I wanted to write a song that inspires people who know what it feels like to be bullied, who know what it feels like to be pushed around or left aside or excluded. I wanted to honor those people who continue to dream like Lions and will never allow anyone to define them or their place in society. I wanted to write something beautiful, because that’s how it made me feel to read the stories of survivors."