Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

In 2001 P.O.D.'s album 'Satellite' threw them right into the centre of the mainstream rock scene with its mixture of rap, rock and reggae. For once a Christian band was right at the centre of culture and their songs connected with the faithful and the disaffected alike. The release of "Alive" on the day terrorists crashed planes into the Twin Towers provided a song that offered healing and was right on the button to capture a nation's desire to find optimism in the midst of such turbulence. They have never managed to top that peak and while rock styles have changed, the band haven't found themselves at the heart of the musical maelstrom since then. Now with a change of label immanent, Atlantic have collected together their best songs so you can have classics like "Rock The Party", "Sleeping Awake", "Alive" and "Youth Of The Nation" together on one disc. There are two previously unreleased tracks which don't add much to the set and you can see why they didn't make it onto previously released material. Here's a collection of songs that celebrates P.O.D.'s glory days; let's hope the new label can propel them back to the top though on the showing of their last two albums and with nu-metal now seeming a musical anachronism, it will be a hard job. It's a shame, since P.O.D. were a band that showed how Christians could make a mainstream impact without compromising.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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