P.O.D.

Item: Satellite
Author: D_Lister

Satellite

(2002)

Reviewed by D_Lister

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Label Atlantic RecordsDead Zine2002

alternative metal nu metal rap metal reggae

I read an article in a secular magazine recently about P.O.D., the title of that article was along the lines of 'P.O.D.'s Satellite, moving away from God, Heaven can wait.' The article went on to say that the boys of Southtown were stepping away from the strict Christian stance they had thrust upon the world with their previous album. Knowing that satan will try anything to take down a Christian warrior I took this with a grain of salt about the size of a basketball and waited until I had the album in my own hands to make this judgment for myself.

Let me be the first to tell you that any statement like that one made in that magazine is simply a convicted spirit from a lost soul who is trying their best to make themselves feel better by attempting to take away the works of a strong Christian unit. In other words. It's 100% Crap. The lyrics on Satellite are as tight as any written by P.O.D. and for someone to not get the lyrics that person would have to be blind...either with their eyes or with their soul. I could quote lyrics from just about any song on this album and you'd see Christian references piled upon each other. There are a couple songs that you would not exactly call Christian but they are still morally right and speaking of the world today such as 'Youth of the Nation.' Still the track 'Portrait' screams 7 times within the song the words 'CHRIST-Jah Flesh; CHRIST-Light within' CHRIST-First and Last)' and to me it just doesn't get much more blatant than that. Way to go boys.

Now for the music, P.O.D. returns with another very tight album. Obviously still an Atlantic release the production is top notch. I personally don't feel it's quite as an amazing album over all as Fundamental was however in the short time I've owned this album it's been in my CD player a lot. There are a few tracks here that I tend to skip however and Fundamental didn't really have any that I skipped. 'Ridiculous' is one of the main skippers for me, as is 'Ghetto'. It's a big time rastafarian track and has reggae great Eek-A-Mouse helping out on vocals. Other guest spots include Christian from Blindside doing clean vocals on 'Anything Right' which is a nice treat and HR of the legendary old school punk band Bad Brains busting out the vocals on 'Without Jan, Nothin''. If you go back like me you remember Bad Brains and you may also remember their albums always thanking Jah, and I remember one insert had huge words that said 'All Praise to Jah.' If I recall correctly HR left/broke up Bad Brains so he could do a solo project that more closely connected with his religious beliefs. I mention all this because I've already started to hear flak from people about P.O.D. having 'secular' artists on their albums. While I know little about Eek-A-Mouse I felt I wanted to try and set the record straight on HR.

On the tracks that are aggressive I'd say P.O.D. has found a way to maintain their distinctive sound and still get even more aggressive. This is evident in songs like 'The Messenjah' and 'Masterpiece Conspiracy.' You've probably heard their first single 'Alive' and thought that it was definitely created to be the radio hit. You're right, but there is a second song lined up as I see it, and that's the title track 'Satellite' a fantastic song (like 'Alive') but seriously put together to be radio friendly. 'Boom' feels like it could easily be the next 'Rock the Party' and live 'Boom' was a huge crowd mover.

On the tracks that the band mellows out they have serious mellow parts. 'Anything Right' is extremely melodic on the verses only to rage into a serious hardcore feeling chorus then as the chorus ends, the violins and cellos come back in and calm things back down again. 'Thinking About Forever' will bring tears to the eyes of the fans who know Sonny's past as it's a song written to his mother, again it's a pretty slow song but is so emotional.

Final word on this CD is it's definitely a P.O.D. album and it's of superior quality. I really really dig about 85% of the album and the couple of tracks I skip are not anything to hold against this release. Whether or not you like P.O.D. if you are reading this you should go out and buy a copy of this album. We must show the major labels that the Christian market is ripe and ready to be picked from. These guys are spreading the word of God to the LOST better than ANY band out there.

8/10