P.O.D

Murdered Love

Written by: PP on 06/11/2012 20:46:07

Oops, I guess P.O.D didn't get the memo about rap rock's demise and subsequent relegation into oblivion about a decade ago. Either they've been living underneath the rock or they just don't give a crap and continue to write nu-metal as if the destruction of the style never took place. I'm kinda leaning on the latter considering "Murdered Love" is their eighth studio album and their first one in four years, and they haven't changed much. They're still playing rap metal or nu metal like it's still the year 2000 and Papa Roach just released "Infest" the other day.

For a nostalgic reminder of most things that we nowadays hate about nu-metal that none of us could yet see when we were but ignorant teenagers, I guess "Murdered Love" does its job right. Everything from rapped verses with edgy vocals to cleaner and anthemic choruses is present, albeit in a slightly softer format where the crunchy, pseudo-heavy guitars have been replaced with slightly more real (and inoffensive) instrumentation instead. But "Lost In Forever", for instance, could've potentially been on their 2001 breakthrough "Satellite", which suggests there are a few decent nu-metal cuts here if you haven't totally given up on the genre just yet. Moreover, guest appearances like Jamey Jasta's thick hardcore scream on "Eyez" and Sen Dog of Cypress Hill on "West Coast Rock Steady" are welcome additions that spice up their otherwise safe mainstream rock sound quite a bit.

I'm not sure it's enough to make "Murdered Love" particularly interesting, though. The album is hopelessly dated and offers a style of music that most of us grew out of ages ago. The songs aren't powerful or catchy enough to have an effect like "Alive" and "Youth of The Nation" did back in the day, which would probably be enough to lift this record out of mediocrity. While not terrible, I just don't see the point in "Murdered Love", other than they're a career band and have to release something to keep touring.

6

Download: Eyez, Lost In Forever
For the fans of: Limp Bizkit, Stuck Mojo, koRn, Adema, Papa Roach
Listen: Facebook

Release date 10.07.2012
Razor & Tie

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