Satellite

There is going to have to be a point when all this metal stops being ‘nu’ and settles into a rather dull and formulaic pattern, awaiting the next radical step forward.

On first impressions, P.O.D. (short for the crap moniker Payable On Death) are unlikely to be busting many new moves, especially given the decidedly uninspired rap-rock fusion of album opener ‘Set It Off’.

Single ‘Alive’ is ostensibly more of the same, but is touched by the hand of something more inspiring; a spirited, sunburst of a song blessed with a giant, radio bursting chorus. But therein lies Satellite’s main problem, an inability to match its outstanding moments with anything more than a series of decidedly average nu metal outings.

Yet so brilliant are these moments that you have to give P.O.D. the benefit of the doubt. ‘Youth Of The Nation’ is as tight and as tense as its subject matter (the gun culture in US schools) dictates while ‘Ridiculous’, a duet with ragga man Eek-A-Mouse, is just one of the hints that P.O.D.’s musical influences lay beyond the expected, a fact confirmed by the thrash-reggae of ‘Without Jah, Nothin’. Satellite is by no means a great album but is a record of more than occasional greatness. Go figure.