  
2012 marks 20 years of American Nu Metal act P.O.D.
(Payable On Death) and it would appear that to
celebrate this the band has released their first
studio album in 4 years! Exciting news right there
as this will be their 8th full length release
in 20 years, I think though the main reason they’ve
took so much time away from releasing material
is that their albums have been getting very mixed
to low ratings since 2001’s “Satellite”,
maybe they’ve been recharging the batteries
and holding off till they could come back with
a frontal assault on the industry, then again
maybe this is just one of those for the sake of
it reunion albums.
The first track features Jamey Jasta from Hatebreed
so they evidentially are pulling out as many big
guns as they can to produce this, to make this
the album that they need to make the proper come
back, the track itself quality wise I actually
really like it’s got a certain, I don’t
want to say it but Deftones styled sound to it
which in my opinion is definitely never a bad
thing, it’s got thick riffs and those heavy
rap rock vocals fit into it perfectly. If you
compare some of this stuff with a hit like “Feel
Alive” it’s a lot darker and heavier
than past material was, and quite frankly I think
that approach, doesn’t mean they don’t
still retain the ability to tone it back with
“Beautiful” which works amazing well
in the middle of the record. Songs like “Babylon
The Murderer” and “Panic & Run”
also have that Ragga metal feel very close to
that of Welsh legend’s Skindred but only
subtle, not overpoweringly close to the same style.
I really like this, don’t get me wrong Rap
Rock on the whole seems to be a very competitive
genre when you’ve got legends like Limp
Bizkit, RATM, Papa Roach, Nonpoint the list will
just go on and on you’ve got to really bring
something for the table to even be recognised
in the midst of the countless names in the business,
while this isn’t the best album I’ve
heard it definitely holds its own and firmly makes
sure P.O.D aren’t going to be overlooked.
3.5/5
Review by James Webb
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