“We’re trying to be not just another metal band,” explains vocalist Sonny Sandoval, describing P.O.D.’s second album on Atlantic Records, Satellite, due out August 28th. “Hopefully,” adds guitarist Marcos Curiel, “we can be the next U2.”
The album expands on the headbanging mix of hardcore, rap and Latin flavor that helped their 1999 debut, The Fundamental Elements of Southtown – which, appropriately enough, included a cover of U2’s “Bullet the Blue Sky” – go platinum. The band is taking a more melodic approach this time, placing acoustic guitars and ballads alongside what Sandoval calls “straight ol’ heavy rock” – tracks like “Boom,” which Curiel calls the “sequel” to P.O.D.’s first hit, “Southtown.”
Other tracks are the tentatively titled “Christ,” an unflinching attack on religious hypocrisy, and “Youth of the Nation,” which was inspired by the Santee High School shooting, which occurred less than a mile away from the band’s Southern California studio.
Fundamental producer Howard Benson returns behind the boards, and the band brought in longtime Metallica engineer Randy Staub to “thicken up the sound,” says Curiel. Guests include Our Lady Peace singer Raine Maida, and H.R. from Bad Brains.
“I am always awed by their spirituality,” says Benson. “They are a big-picture band – they have a sense about their careers and their listeners that is bigger than the record business.”