Truth Rising is the eighth studio album

Studio album

A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 band Hed PE. The album was released on October 26, 2010 to mixed reviews. Truth Rising debuted at #98 on the Billboard 200. The album also peaked #13 on the Top Independent albums charts.

Music and lyrics

The music of Truth Rising primarily fuses hard rock

Hard rock

Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...

, heavy metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

, hip hop

Hip hop music

Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...

, funk

Funk

Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...

, reggae

Reggae

Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...

 and punk rock

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

. It also features elements of blues

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

 and industrial

Industrial music

Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...

. Jared Gomes' vocal style ranges from melodic singing to rapping

Rapping

Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...

 and death growl

Death growl

A death growl, also known as death metal vocals, guttural vocals, death grunts, and harsh vocals among other names, is a vocalisation style usually employed by vocalists of the death metal and black metal music genre, but also used in a variety of heavy metal and hardcore punk subgenres.Death...

s. The album continues the band's increasingly political lyrical message, drawing thematic material from the 9/11 Truth movement

9/11 Truth Movement

9/11 Truth movement is a collective name for loosely affiliated organizations and individuals who question the accepted account of the September 11, 2001, attacks....

. Religion and sex are also discussed. Gomes states that the "truth" referred to in the album's title refers to "a lot of different things. One of it is trying to sift through all the political catch phrases and junk. There’s also the organized religion component, there’s the E.T. reality component and then there’s blind consumerism. It’s a broad concept."

"No Rest for the Wicked" was recorded especially for the compilation Major Pain 2 Indee Freedom: The Best of Hed P.E.

Major Pain 2 Indee Freedom: The Best of Hed P.E.

Major Pain 2 Indee Freedom: The Best of Hed P.E. is a retrospective compilation by Hed PE. It was released in 2010 on Suburban Noize Records, and is the first authorized compilation of material by the band.-Music:...

, and features a chorous reminiscent of The Police

The Police

The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For the vast majority of their history, the band consisted of Sting , Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland...

. The band purchased new recording material for the song, which premeired on Noisecreep

Noisecreep

Noisecreep is a hard rock and heavy metal music news and media website based in the United States. The site was created by AOL Music in March 2009....

. Sevendust

Sevendust

Sevendust is an American heavy metal band from Atlanta, Georgia. Formed in 1994 by bassist Vince Hornsby, drummer Morgan Rose and guitarist John Connolly. After their first demo, lead vocalist Lajon Witherspoon and guitarist Clint Lowery joined the group...

 singer Lajon Witherspoon

Lajon Witherspoon

Lajon Witherspoon is the vocalist for the Atlanta-based alternative metal band Sevendust. Members from such bands as Staind, Seether, Alter Bridge, and Diecast have listed Lajon and Sevendust as musical influences. In March 2008, Lajon was recognized in Hit Parader's magazine as one of the "Top...

 contributed guest vocals to the song "Stand Up". Gomes described "Takeover" as a battle rap

Battle Rap

Battle rap is a type of rapping that includes a lot of braggadocio content "combined with put-downs, insults, and disses against real or imaginary opponents"...

; he also stated that the lyrical themes were lighter than the rest of the album.

Reviews

411mania gave the album a 6.5 rating, describing parts of the album as "disjointed"; the punk and hip hop tracks were deemed to be the weakest on the album. Allmusic wrote that "all the mishmashing makes Truth Rising even more inconsistent and alienating than usual." Kik Axe Music gave the album 3 out of 5, stating that the sexual references in the latter part of the album diminished the sincerity of the band's message. The Live OC wrote, "Despite the overly profane lyrics used in a few select songs, Truth Rising has a lot to offer. The general message Hed PE sends about getting involved in socio-political matters is an admirable one. Whether or not you agree with Hed PE’s views, you should still get involved. Musically, Truth Rising contains enough variety to provide something to enjoy for everyone."

Track listing

Personnel

• Jared Gomes— Vocals
• Jaxon Benge
  Jaxon Benge
  Jaxon Benge, is the guitarist for American punk rock band, Hed PE. He exclusively uses Ibanez Seven-string guitars in the studio and when performing live...
  
   — Guitar
• Mawk
  Mark Young
  Mark Young may refer to:*Mark Aitchison Young , British administrator, Governor of Hong Kong just before and after World War II*Mark John Young , Welsh Liberal Democrat candidate for the Vale of Clwyd in the National Assembly for Wales election, 2007*Mark Young , motorcycle racer who died at the...
  
  — Bass
• DJ Product © 1969 — Turntables
• Trauma — Drums