Photo Credit: Alicia Hauff
P.O.D. have quietly (metaphorically speaking) carved out quite the niche for themselves over their 32-year career. While many bands from the nu-metal era burned brightly for a short period, leaving memorable and occasionally embarrassing tracks in their wake, P.O.D. has released an extensive back-catalogue and avoided becoming an act admired purely for nostalgic reasons.
Their latest record, Veritas, often embodies vintage nu-metal in sound, but frontman Sonny Sandoval, guitarist Marcos Curiel, and bassist Mark “Traa” Daniel provide just enough updates to make this a contemporary-sounding record.
Interestingly, for a nu-metal band, P.O.D. decide to fly straight out of the traps with some outright old-school metal on Drop, with Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe providing vocals. As he and Sandoval repeatedly roar the chorus’s call-to-arms of “Let it Rock,” they also foreshadow what to expect from this album.
I Got That starts off with a filthy syncopated riff, which could’ve come straight from the turn of the century. It’s braggadocious nu-metal at its very best.
Afraid to Die follows in very much the same vein, with the refrain “If the world is gonna end you know that I’m bringing all my friends ’cause we ain’t afraid to die!” clearly destined to become a live favourite. Guest vocals from Tatiana Shmayluk help give this track a chorus that is as shout-alongable as it is catchy.
The blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Dead Right and Breaking visit the hip-hop influences of nu-metal. These tracks feature the quick-fire rapping that the genre is famous for and also include more scratching, sampling, and production. Rather than dating this album, however, they feel very contemporary. This sound fits in seamlessly with the current Y2K revival.
Lay Me Down (Roo’s Song) slows things down slightly but doesn’t lose the heavy guitars and soaring vocals. It has a similar vibe to 2003’s Alive but is a little more world-weary and streetwise than its youthfully optimistic counterpart. Although it is undoubtedly a well-written song, it does get lost in the mix somewhat.
Single I Won’t Bow Down and tracks This Is My Life and We Are One pick the heaviness back up and follow the nu-metal formula set out earlier in the album. These are solid, if occasionally unspectacular slabs of modern rock that’ll be enjoyed by fans, but may not bother P.O.D.’s established live setlist too much.
Perhaps the biggest surprise on this album is Lies We Tell Ourselves, which is a remarkably sensitive song for a band like P.O.D.. Touching on themes of mental health and self-delusion, this track has an almost early 2000s emo/pop-punk sound. While it harks back to the era of the band’s heyday, it’s from a genre that wouldn’t necessarily be associated with them.
The album closes with Feeling Strange – another slower number. It’s an introverted end to the record, but the softly strummed verses contrast nicely with the heavier chorus to provide a satisfying conclusion to an enjoyable album.
In essence, everything you could want from a nu metal album is covered on this record: DJ scratches, check; rapping, check; low-register growling, check. P.O.D. have so much practice in making this kind of record at this point, they could churn out chugs in their sleep. That’s not to say that this album is phoned in – P.O.D. know what they’re good at, and they stick to that formula. This is probably the heaviest – and best – they’ve sounded in years.
If you’ve not been won over by P.O.D. at this point, there’s probably little here that will win you over. However, there is a lot here for fans of classic nu-metal to enjoy, and long-serving P.O.D. fans will absolutely love it.
7/10
Standout Tracks: Drop, Afraid to Die, Lies We Tell Ourselves
For Fans Of: Taproot, Sevendust, Nonpoint
Written by: Tom Forrester
