Mix of Rap, Punk Portends hed Start : “Church of Realities” (no label) ** 1/2

If one surveys Orange County’s alternative rock scene for the next band capable of springing from the dives to the national charts, hed has to rank near the head of the list of contenders.

The band from Huntington Beach / Long Beach blends hollering rap with explosive punk-metal rock in a way that sounds like a collaboration between local star metal-mongers Korn and Public Enemy’s trenchant rapper, Chuck D. The six-man band, which features a DJ with a full-on rock ensemble, may not break new ground, but its skillful, high-impact mixture of elements is sonically arresting on this independently produced debut.

The sound palette includes the lazy, funk-noir guitars that float through the opening track, “Inro”; the wrathful and propulsive punk-metal attack of “1st Song”; and the ominous, spacey sound-scape of “I.F.O.,” a sci-fi epic that puts its faith in UFOs and charges a government cover-up of real-life close encounters.

Rapper M.C.U.D. doesn’t stretch the hard-core hip-hop lexicon, spitting out N words and F words like clamps from a staple gun. But at least the lyrical content is strong enough to capture the thorny and fascinating contradictions of rap, in rhymes torn between the impulse to lash out in anger and the realization that there’s got to be a better way than angry confrontation.

“Darky” begins with live-and-let-live sentiments:

My nature’s not to hate ya

so I try to live in the [shoes] of the other man.

Peace to my brother, man.

Soon enough, M.C.U.D. is breaking this momentary peace treaty with the world in vengeful proclamations of a punch-the-other-cheek philosophy.

As it slides a gratuitous anti-gay epithet into the otherwise entertaining “I.F.O.,” it is obvious that hed’s heart needs some enlightening. The band could try harder to live in the shoes of the other man. Maybe that will happen in time for its 1997 debut under a new major label deal with Jive Records.

* Human Waste Project and Polar Bear play tonight at 9 at the Rhino Room, 7979 Center Ave., Huntington Beach. $8. (714) 892-3316. hed, Sugar Ray and R-Tribe play Nov. 23 at Club 369, 1641 N. Placentia Ave., Fullerton. $10. (714) 572-1781.

Ratings range from * (poor) to **** (excellent), with *** denoting a solid recommendation.