Reviewed by Greg Sammons

First up I must confess I was a little disappointed by P.O.D.'s last effort, so with this being a rather natural follow on from their last album I feared I was building myself up for another anti-climax. But then it was not the quality of music I had issues with, but the style - which is far too subjective. So once I put that aside I was able to enjoy 'Testify' much more than I thought I would. It doesn't hit home in the metal stakes like 'Satellite' and 'Fundamental Elements' did but that was to be expected, this band have always had the ability to shift away from being stuck in a genre rut. You could argue to some extent that the band are mellowing with age, but to a much larger extent you could argue that with age the band are capable of crafting ever more intricate and beautiful pieces of music. My natural thought when taking on Jason Truby as the successor to Marcos Curiel prior to their last album was that this band was gonna get harder and heavier, yet the very reverse seems to have happened - focussing ever more on melodic moments. The lead single "Goodbye For Now" aptly sums up the mood of the majority of the album. The song following on from that and the opener prove to be the other highlights for me personally (unsurprisingly they contain some of the heavier moments too) although do not best demonstrate the craft and intricacy that went into some of the other tunes. Keep an open mind and you should enjoy this well produced album but if you're still hungering for another classic status 'Satellite' you will be disappointed.

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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