P.O.D., Circles - album review
P.O.D. have never got the love and recognition they deserve, their Christian influences have often seen them unfairly ridiculed and their sheer talent ignored.
It's blighted them throughout much of their career - especially the commercial success they achieved in the early 00s with the singles Alive, Youth of the Nation, Boom and Satellite.
But put any of their records on and just listen to those thunderous bass lines, those frenetic guitar riffs and their rap and reggae-infused metal core.
This, their 10th record since debuting Snuff The Punk in 2004, is undeniably them, even if it does fall short of producing the consistent gut-wrenching primal qualities of 1999's The Fundamental Elements of Southtown or the self-titled Payable On Death from 2003.
There's some massive percussion intros that hail big guitar sounds. You can tell they've been touring with Prophets Of Rage recently, that influence waves from a lot of the material.
On The Radio encapsulates this. That intro is a stormer and will undoubtedly sound great when they come to Birmingham in the new year. They have the big P.O.D. choruses thrown in too as the guitars rise a few octaves and Sonny Sandoval is allowed to show his singing nous.
Panic Attack is another example. Rap-led, that delicious bass line from an on-form Traa Daniels stirs the rest of the track into a frenzy. Expect aggy, foaming and spitting vibes from every angle.
They also reach for that radio-friendly sound here too as they often did during that turn-of-the-century period. Always Southern California sounds like a pop-rap-metal anthem of the ilk of Crazy Town's Butterfly. The uplifting chorus is a real treat as the guitars use their growl to compose a really moving melody.
Yet that anger they can produce so well is lying under the surface and erupts during Listening For The Silence. It oozes danger, waiting for the shuddering chorus to shake you from side to side. This is the kind of rage that pretty much filled all of Murdered Love in 2012 from start to finish.
A special mention too for the swagger of Soundboy Killa - there is a real sexiness to the attitude on show here as Sonny pulls the guitars along by the short 'n' curlies with his vigour. This is P.O.D. at their salivating finest.
Rating: 7/10
P.O.D. play at Birmingham's O2 Institute on March 7, 2019
