(hed)pe - New World Orphans

Album Review by Ewen Millar | 20 May 2009
Album title: New World Orphans
Artist: (hed)pe
Label: Suburban Noise Records
Release date: 11 May

In the 90s, Rage Against The Machine were a band steeped in politics, with four marxist intellectuals somehow managing to subvert the exposure and financial clout of a major label in order to spread their message. And they had groove. In 2009, (hed)pe open New World Orphans with samples of politicians talking about the New World Order, but their medium is a nu-metal pastiche sprinkled with a distasteful helping of gangster rap machismo, that offers plenty of 9/11 conspiracy theory but zero brain cells to back it up. Unlike (hed)pe, R.A.T.M. didn't dilute their message when an attractive girl happened to walk by, nor did they feel the need to complain about that 'pussy emo shit'. It's no crime to rap on a variety of themes, but it's hard to give a message to the masses when you're solipstically biggin' yourself up, looking in the mirror, and holding the crotch of your over-sized skate-pants.

http://www.newworldorphans.com