Jihad (also known as Otep on European versions) is the debut EP and release by American nu metal band Otep. It was released on June 19, 2001 by Capitol Records. It is the only Otep release to feature guitarists Traver Marsh and Dave "Spooky" Aguilera, who were fired from the band shortly after the EP's release. Background Otep was formed in November 2000. After an appearance at the Roxy Theatre (their fourth show) in February 2001, the band was selected by Sharon Osbourne to appear on the bill for Ozzfest 2001, despite the fact they had no record deal or demo. This increased the band's attention, and Nik Frost, an A&R representative, signed the band to Capitol Records in March 2001. The band publicly announced and celebrated the label signing with a performance at The Viper Room on April 5, 2001. Capitol signed the band on the belief the band had written eleven songs; in reality, Otep had lied, as they only had five or six playable songs that were around eight months old at the time of Jihad's recording, but the band was not worried about needing new songs as Otep Shamaya had already written all of the lyrics, and the band was on a creative spree at the time. Recording and composition After signing to Capitol, the band headed to Indigo Ranch in Malibu, California to create some demos. Afterwards, they started working on their EP with producer Rich Costey. Capitol gave the band one week to complete the EP, which meant its production was rushed, and the songs were not as fleshed out or developed as they could have been. Despite these time constraints, Otep was overall satisfied with the quality of the songs. Composition Jihad is generally described as nu metal, rap metal and gothic metal. Otep Shamaya's vocals consist of screaming, growling and rapping, as well as elements of spoken word. The album was written in a stream of consciousness style, whereby no songs were written prior to being played, but rather played spontaneously; "If we try to write something it’s not going to be as fulfilling or sound as interesting as it would if we do it and it simply comes from someplace that we have no control over." Shamaya described the writing style as "a surrender to the subconscious". This is best shown on the EP's third track, "Germ", an improvisational spoken word