P.O.D. - Testify

It seems like every so often their seems to be a need for a band like P.O.D. A band that has huge album, basically impossible to avoid for a year straight. And then when they return with a follow up to the smash hit, they fall off the face of the earth.

When Satellite was released their was no way of getting around them. They were fucking everywhere. Possibly wearing out their welcome with the number of hits they had from that album (I honestly thought the same thing was going to happen to the Black Eyed Peas, unfortunately I was wrong). Now their back with their 4th studio release (Payable On Death isn't even with more than a slight mention), hoping to recapture some of their magic from their sophmore effort.

If their is only one thing you get out of listening to this album, it's that the guys that make up the band are extremely hard-headed. That could be the only reason that they haven't changed or evolved a single bit from their first album. Every single track on here sounds like something recycled and regurgitated. Not even accompanying the songs with decent hooks. Just bland.

The first song on the album, and contrived collaboration of Matisyahu (he also appears later on in the album, but who gives a shit?) seems like POD reaching for the latest trend to hitch its sinking star to. For what it's worth, the best song on the album is also the first single. But in the end, it sounds like everything else they have done before.

This band had potential from Satellite to really acheive something special in some ways. Intertwining introspective lyrics with some nice tunes. But somewhere along the way they seemed to have just get stuck in the pattern. And absolutely refusing to tinker with their method, or just plain not giving a shit, is basically what has doomed them.

2 out of 5