Review Summary: Not the best, but not the worst.
Awhile back a friend of mine asked me if I had ever heard of P.O.D. I had been familiar with P.O.D., not with their entire discography but with a few songs I had heard on the radio. He asked me if I would like to borrow his copy of Satellite. I said yes and gave the album a good listen. If you were like me at the time and had only heard a few P.O.D. songs you would know that the band has heavy Christian influences. I thought that the Christian song writing would be a major turn off, but, it's pretty tame on this album. So what did I think of it? Well, it's definitely not the best album ever, but it's not the worst.
A few things that surprised me about this album is that it is actually quiet heavy in some places. The opening track Set It Off really shows this heaviness off. The thundering guitar riff will get stuck in your head for quite a while, and you will almost certainly be singing along with Sonny as he shout "rise!" through your speakers. The following tracks are kinda heavy as well. Now I know what you're thinking, if the opening song is that great what about the rest of the album? Well, it kinda falls short after the first six tracks (keep in mind there are fifteen in total). Songs like Alive and Youth of the Nation are classic P.O.D. songs that are well made and really capture some emotion. Sadly there songs like Ridiculous and Without Jah, Nothin' come off as cheesy and uninspired.
What is there to say about the people that made this album? Well for starters Sonny Sandoval is actually a pretty good vocalist. He does something that most singers for mainstream bands can't do, and that is capture the emotion in their singing. Guitarist Marcos Curiel has some pretty catchy riffs and is all around not a bad guitar player. Sadly this does not apply to the remaining two members of the band. The bass is hardly audible, if at all, and the drums are extremely simple and don't really have anything to offer.
Now what are some things that people might not like about this album. For one thing it's a Nu-Metal album. That's reason enough for most people to steer clear of if it, right? Well, like any genre, there are good bands and bad bands. P.O.D. comes out somewhere in the middle. Sonny's rapping is sub-par and isn't really worth mentioning at all. And for all the shred heads out there, there are not solos, so don't bother looking for them. Anyway, other turn offs would be the fact that their a Christian band. I really have no problem with this, but you know, some people might. Oh yeah, the guest vocalists on some of the songs just sort of ruin the songs for me. Bad Brains front man H.R. sings on the track Without Jah, Nothin'. I love Bad Brains, but he just doesn't seem to be putting to much effort on that track. Eek-A-Mouse also is a guest vocalist on Ridiculous. I'm not to fond of him so his appearance on this track didn't really do much for me.
Overall this is a pretty good album. If you like mainstream artists that actually have something to say other than talking about sex and drugs I would recommend this for you. If you like Christian Nu-Metal then pick up this album. And like I said the first six tracks are the better tracks on it; after that you should probably take the CD out of your CD player, or continue listening if you really want. This would be P.O.D.'s only album to really hit it big, and after Satellite they started going down the toilet. But still, give it a listen if you have the time.
