Will You SHUT UP ALREADY??!?!?!
Written: Nov 06 '03 (Updated Aug 21 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: A few harder-hitting tracks; the gorgeous instrumental "Eternal".
Cons: Most of it is every bit as cheesy as the Christian bands P.O.D. thinks they're better than.
The Bottom Line: Apparently P.O.D. doesn't realize there's a difference between executing the sounds and killing them. Having said that, there may be just enough to make this album worthwhile.
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| divad23's Full Review: Payable on Death by P.O.D. |
"Christian music is the cheesiest music," says Wuv. "They copy too much. I hate that." But surely there must be at least one Christian rock group P.O.D. likes? What about Jars of Clay? Marcos makes a face. "Nah," he says. Wuv grimaces: "Arrggghhh!" he says. "You can quote me on that: Jars of Clay--arrggghhh!"
Recognize the paragraph above? If so, that's because you read about the incident in question some time last year when a few members of the unbelievably popular hard rock band P.O.D. made some disparaging comments (which were possibly meant as playful jabs) about Christian rock bands that they thought were "cheesy". I guess that's no surprise these days - a lot of popular artists who also happen to be Christians are quick to distance themselves from the Christian music industry. And honestly, I can't blame 'em, even if in this case, they were horribly misguided for messing with my boys in Jars of Clay!
Anyway, I'm not here to write about Jars. Or any of those other "cheesy" bands. I'm here to write about P.O.D., the saviors of modern rock music as we know it, who apparently know quite a bit about being original and not being cheesy. Take it from a guy named Wuv. I mean, with a name like that, how could you feel anything other than intimidated by his tough guy attitude and street-smart knowledge of good music?
OK, maybe I'm taking some wisecracks made by two members of a band a little too seriously. I mean, one of those guys (former guitarist Marcos Curiel) isn't even in the band any more, and the other one's just the drummer. It's not like he's the lead singer or anything (lead singers tend to be the most vocal members of most rock bands these days). Sometimes a little pride gets in the way. That doesn't make P.O.D. any less Christian, or any less of a good band, right? I mean, I hated the band when they first broke big in the mainstream, and then Satellite dropped, and I was forced to shut my mouth, because darn it all, it was a good album. Minus a few tracks, it would have been an awesome album. It was a virtually solid rap/rock montage that hit hard when it counted, and yet still had soul. For the most part, P.O.D. was making good on their promise to bring an uplifting message into a genre not often know for such a thing, and they were doing it more believably than most bands of their ilk that had chosen to stay within the walls of the Christian music industry. So far, so good. But you know, I'm not really feeling this new album that they've released. So what happened?
Right about now is usually when I would blame the replacement of a key member. Marcos had been with the band since its humble beginnings, and depending on who you talk to, he either chose to leave or was asked to leave earlier this year. He was quickly replaced with former Living Sacrifice guitarist Jason Truby, and around this time the guys started talking about how they were getting back to roots with their new album, upping the intensity level, even titling it Payable on Death as if to signal a new beginning. They contributed a single entitled "Sleeping Awake" to the Matrix: Reloaded soundtrack that showed a lot of promise. I figured that even if I wasn't really into the harder, more chaotic sound of their earlier albums, that now would be a good time for them to take what they had learned about melody and apply it to the older, more aggressive style. Heck, their new guitarist was fresh out of one of the most notable Christian metal bands of all time. Surely that would make for an interesting recording.
But it didn't happen that way. I can't blame Truby; he seems to be every bit as talented as Marcos was. It's just that in their grand attempt to trump all of the cheesy Christian bands out there, P.O.D. somehow managed to become what they were trying to avoid. The worst part of it all? I can't even call them a hard rock band any more. Sure, I may have once boldly proclaimed that I hated The Fundamental Elements of Southtown, but looking back, that was partially my distaste for the genre at the time. These days, while P.O.D. still maintains an energetic presence and Sonny Sandoval still screams from time to time when he isn't dropping reggae-influenced rhymes, the band has for the most part gone pop. I'd be the last guy to hate something just because it had a catchy melody, but a sure sign that your band has gone pop is when your lyrics are a lot more vague and less meaningful than they used to be. And this is where I start to wonder exactly how much influence Marcos once had on the band's creativity. There's so much on Payable on Death that seems to be in a similar vein to past hits - it just isn't executed nearly as well. At least, not unless you take the word "executed" to mean "ceremoniously put to death".
It's not all bad, I guess. A few songs manage to approach the staying power of the best tracks on Satellite. There's even a nice surprise at the end of the album. But for the most part, this is fairly lightweight stuff when compared to the heavy, hard-hitting album it was purported to be.
Wildfire
One leads with the passion
The righteous will burn again...
Things seem promising enough at the beginning - a blistering guitar riff ensures that the band hit's the ground running, and an unexpectedly raw verse finds Sonny spitting out reggae-inflected lyrics (making sure to twist the last word of each line into a strangely addictive screech) that leave no question regarding the band's ongoing spiritual commitment. While they might use terms like "Jah" and "Zion" that don't sit so well with your average, not-well-read conservative, this is definitely a song about having a zeal for the Holy Spirit. And it ain't a bad one, either. Actually, the rough nature of the lyrics reminds me of Skillet at times (oh no, there's the first of many cheesy Christian bands that I'm going to compare them to!) The song loses steam a bit near the end - it certainly isn't the clean blast of power that "Set It Off" was on the last disc, but I still enjoy it. I have to admit, the timing of P.O.D.'s albums is ironic, since Satellite was released on 9/11, and now this disc comes out, starting off with a song called "Wildfire" while the band's hometown of San Diego is still reeling from the California fires. Weird.
Will You
Fade in and out of reason to fight the way she's feelin'
She breaks down...
The first single out of the box on P.O.D.'s new disc bears a strange resemblance to "Sleeping Awake". Interesting coincidence, no? I guess I can't fault the guys for taking what works and reusing it - it's good to hear a modern rock band play in something other than 4/4, and the guys do a great job with it musically (especially Jason). Sonny is really singing more than rapping or screaming here (this is true of the album as a whole), and he capably conveys the emotions of a girl who seems to be confused over her worth. I guess she's got a boyfriend who's treating her like trash or something - it's not 100% clear from context. But it's a good story, asking the question of what it really means for two people to love each other with coming across as heavy handed. They simply ask (or rather, scream) the question, "Will you love me tomorrow? Will you stay with me today?" There's a weird breakdown at the end where the band suddenly switches into 4/4 and Sonny is screaming "WILL YOU!!!" over and over; it actually sounds like he's yelling at some poor kid named "William". Anyway, there's a good mix of hope and anger here - she seems to have a love/hate relationship with the guy, and such a thing never leads to easy answers. (Just ask Stacie Orrico!)
Change the World
Imagine a place on here soaked in vision
The heart of a child who looks, sees, and listens...
So, can you tell from the title that things are starting to go downhill here. Yep, that's right, the kings of non-cheesy hard rock have given us a melodic and entirely generic anthem about how one person can make a difference. "One word, a voice unheard/You can change the world/If everyone would stop and listen." Hey, I'm all for one-man revolutions, and I'm sure this one'll get the "Warriors" excited (that's the official name for P.O.D.'s fan club), but you know, it's not good when a band like this uses the very same words that could easily be found in a Hallmark card. Jason is all over this one with some catchy, stuttering guitar parts, and thank God for that, because it at least makes for good ear candy. All the same, it's nothing that Pax217 hasn't done a million times better.
Execute the Sounds
You know Jah know, the real who is who
Ain't no time to fake it, make ya feel brand new...
Remember "Boom" and "Ridiculous" from the last album? Or "Rock the Party" from the album before that? This is pretty much more of the same, except the same old trick is starting to wear thin. Hey, I'm all for fun party songs about making cool music and putting something positive out there for the people to nod they heads to, but is It necessary for you guys to remind us of how darn positive you are all the time? "Execute the sounds, positive all around"... Are you serious? I'll admit that Sonny's rap/singing hybrid verses are quite catchy, but they also make a lot less sense than they did in a song like "Boom". Maybe it's hip-hop lingo - I'm fine with that. But then he busts out with a line like "Home of the real hardcore", and at that point I'm positive that they've become everything but hardcore. Sheesh!
Find My Way
See through my eyes and you will know
I'll take my chance that you will come home to me...
This Is one of those vague songs that could be about a girlfriend, or could be about God. The band slows it down just a hair to give breathing room to Sonny's troubled lyrics about having failed someone and wanting another chance. It sounds pretty good, since the band's got some of the vocal harmony working for them that they had in "Thinking About Forever", and once again an effective screaming bridge works its way in, but ultimately, the vague lyrics leave me feeling a bit disinterested. Reading them over, I'm starting to think that it could easily have been written by Kutless or 12 Stones. And that's not a compliment. (Though it sounds better than anything those guys have done so far.)
Revolution
Rebel against the eye and bring down the cell
Mutiny, me overthrow you
Rebellion starts within, the time is now...
Hmmm... first P.O.D. gets the lead single on the soundtrack to the second Matrix movie and then they put a song called "Revolution" on an album released the day before the third installment of the film? Probably a coincidence. But it, too, uses the same time signature and roughly the same tempo. (Sheesh, they should've just put "Slppeing Awake" on the album and called it a day - it's better than anything on here.) This one starts off as a rougher ride than "Will You", which is a good thing since it means Sonny gets to forcefully sing some interesting lines such as "More calm than a heartbeat that flatlines". There's an interesting fight between fantasy and reality going on here, as the band takes us on a trip through some rather harrowing imagery, arriving at the chorus which asks, "Did somebody say a revolution? Or is it all in my head?" Unfortunately, there are far too many moments where the rhymes in this song seem a bit amateurish - such as rhyming "revolution" with "solution" and throwing in a bunch of trippy but unrelated terms during the bridge: "Purple skies, devil eyes, hypnotize/Little lies, compromise, fireflies", etc. It just sounds like it was all placed there to sound cool.
The Reasons
It is what it is, and that's too bad for you
I don't even care...
The band turns in another uncharacteristically vague tune here, taking on an almost sarcastic tune as if trying to emulate the nihilistic voice of America's youth, but falling miserably short due to the overall lack of lyrics. The chorus doesn't even manage to form a coherent sentence - "Because the reasons why, why do we do the things we do?" It doesn't exactly motivate me to examine my selfishness, you know? Traa's work on the bass is really nice here, and one thing I really appreciate about P.O.D. is how the production on their recent albums really allows Traa and Wuv to shine instead of focusing it all on vocals and guitars. But it's still not good when that's the only noteworthy thing about a song.
Freedom Fighters
You portray selfishness and hate
While some prepare to die today
I say you fade away, appreciate life and liberate...
At this point, the album collapses into a mid-tempo mire that begins to sound all too similar to the band's nu-metal contemporaries. Sure, there are still little elements of the reggae influence that makes P.O.D. stand out from most of the pack, most notably in the refrain of "Freedom fighteres, ignite Jah" and the "Live free, be free, die free" vocal that floats behind that refrain. The band just seems too preachy here, and not inventive enough with their message. I may agree with a sentiment like "We have a right to live in peace, and you must fight for what you keep", but the phrasing is just amateurish.
Waiting on Today
I'm missin', days are back then
And life was goin' on, alive and kickin'...
So, anyone know what one of the most common trends in modern rock music is? Yep, that's right, vague soul-searching lyrics that don't really say much of anything. Ironic that such an outspoken group of Christians would fall prey to the trend, isn't it? But that's what's happening here. Not that I think they're purposefully trying to be vague - I think they're just struggling to write powerful songs. This one's another mid-tempo and relatively easy on the ears semi-ballad that finds Sonny reminiscing about an unspecified time when everything was easier. Whatever interest I had in this song, I lost it when the chorus came along. "Waiting on today/Tell me it's OK/So I won't run away." Come on you guys, even Linkin Park can do better than that. (I like Linkin Park and all... but lyrics aren't their strong point, either.)
I and Identify
Gentle, purified, stay true, protection
Always trusting, continue hoping, conquer, never fail...
OK, this one isn't a bad comeback. It's a fun, stomping rock song that switches time signatures without warning - not as chaotic as "Portrait", but probably a good balance between the old and new sounds of P.O.D. Basically, it's a take on the famous chapter I Corinthians 13, which talks about what love is and what love is not. I guess the guys threw in their own little spin on the reggae phrase "I and I" just for fun. No real explanation for how that fits in here, but then, I'm not exactly up on the culture. Things start to take a turn for the worst when the band spits out the refrain "Reach for the sky/Don't let it get away". I can handle that if it's on a mushy love note from my girlfriend, but coming from P.O.D., it's definitely one for the barf bag. Thankfully, as is often the case on this record, the music saves the day.
Asthma
I tried living my life through your eyes
Smother me with your ways, to death, no breath
You're choking what little faith I have left...
I wouldn't have expected one of the darkest and heaviest tracks on the record to arrive this late in the game, but thankfully, P.O.D. seems at long last to have something interesting to say. Sonny's screams are every bit as desperate as the character he Is trying to describe, who is gasping for air In a hostile atmosphere. Of course this is all metaphor, but at this point I'm surprised that the band remembered what that was! The suffocation they describe comes from being forced to live their lives as others see fit. It's a realistic portrait of the pressure P.O.D. must have felt in these last few years since breaking in the mainstream and getting scrutinized from both sides. This is a good sign that the band still has it where it counts - not that I expect everything they do to be heavy, I just want it to be powerful in some way. ("Thinking About Forever", one of their mellowest songs thus far, did a fine job of that, for example.) Interestingly, the song eventually winds down to a softer ending with the guys singing "I would die to breathe again" and everything but the drums falling away until nothing but light cymbal tapping can be heard. Then silence.
Eternal
Well, this one came out of nowhere! You know how these aggressive rock bands all have their obligatory acoustic track, generally at the end of the album? Well, this is P.O.D.'s version of that, except that I don't think it's just a trendy thing. After all, it's an instrumental and it shows us that Jason Truby has some serious chops. P.O.D. has interspersed their albums with instrumentals over the years, but this one's a full-blown, six minute aural journey. This one actually resulted from a jam session when guitar legend Phil Keaggy showed up to play with the guys - it's all Phil and Jason, and to be honest, I don't know which one of them is playing the Latin-tinged acoustic part and which one is playing the Santana-inspired electric part. (Probably Jason, since the acoustic part has a shimmering quality that reminds me of some other work by the 19-fingered instrumental genius.) Admittedly it's a little weird to have such a track on a P.O.D. album who nobody who participated it had anything to do with the band a year ago, but since it's hands down the best thing on the album, I'm not going to complain.
Interesting, isn't it? P.O.D. appears to be at their best when they travel to opposite extremes. It's when they're in the middle, with lyrics that unapologetically walk the middle of the road, that I'm not pleased. Payable on Death seems to start strong, end strong, and fall flat right in the middle (save for "Revolution" and some choice instrumental bits here and there), and that's very frustrating after witnessing what they were capable of on Satellite. Better lyrics likely would have fixed some of that - it's not like the music is monotonous. It just can't carry the weight of the album on its own. Last time around, there was a reason to tell the Warriors to take heart. There was a harsh world of gun violence and car crashes and hypocrisy and loved ones passing away to be confronted. Ironically, in their first batch of songs penned after 9/11, I'm not hearing nearly as much of that urgency.
So it looks like I'm back to the old days of making fun of P.O.D.! The only difference is that while I can write some of my former mockery of the band off as ignorance, they've pretty much brought it upon themselves. Congratulations to the #1 non-cheesy band in all of Christendom - you've really outdone yourselves this time! I'll recommend your album, I guess... but with reservations.
(Oh, and for those who were wondering about the cover art... yes, it is a naked woman with butterfly wings. The drawing looked a bit androgynous, and so at first I thought it was a caricature of Jesus Christ, but in any event, it's a woman. Meant to symbolize the band's rebirth or something. Guess it got 'em booted from a lot of Christian bookstores, but then I'm rather ambivalent about that issue at the moment.)
ALBUM WORTH:
Wildfire $1.50
Will You $1.50
Change the World $0
Execute the Sounds $.50
Find My Way $1
Revolution $1
The Reasons $0
Freedom Fighters $0
Waiting on Today -$.50
I and Identify $1
Asthma $1.50
Eternal $2
TOTAL: $9.50
Band Members:
Sonny Sandoval: Lead vocals
Jason Truby: Guitars
Wuv: Drums
Traa: Bass
Website: http://www.payableondeath.com
Author's Note: The quote at the top of this review was taken from an article by Dallas Jenkins entitled "P.O.D. should Remember the Golden Rule", which can be found here:
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/114/story_11406_1.html
Just wanted to give credit where credit was due for that one.
Recommended:
Yes
Great Music to Play While: Driving
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divad23
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Member: David Martin
Location: Pasadena, CA
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Just add an implicit "in my humble opinion" to every sentence I write.
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