Reviewed by Tony Cummings

Some fans have felt that the gap between 'When Angels & Serpents Dance' (2008) and this 2012 release was way too long. As well as that, cooler critics have dismissed rapcore as a musical anachronism as irrelevant today as thrash metal. But to this reviewer 'Murdered Love' is their best ever album. It contains a startlingly wide range of musical approaches, some top rate songwriting and the marriage of Sonny and his cohorts with top producer Howard Benson really delivers. The tracks here by degree evoke righteous anger, passionate adoration, happy go lucky humour and occasionally gentle tenderness in a sonically thrilling, hugely varied album. Lines like "I will not sleep until Babylon falls" leap out while the title track blasts out an account of the minutes straight after the crucifixion of Christ. "Exterminate the absolute/Stain the just in the blood bath/Waste the pure, butcher the diverse/Annihilate the sunrise." This and other cuts show the guys are still adept hardcore noisenicks. But there is also a song "Higher" which has the same kind of memorable song hook that made "Alive" such a big hit, while "Beautiful" is so lacking in musical brutality that it also seems out of place on the set. One reviewer called it "P.O.D.'s most pop-influenced song to date. . .the best way to describe it is like 311 with big boy pants on. It's a great song and would be a great Northern hemisphere summer song." P.O.D. offer some metal-based funk on "Bad Day" before exploding into "Panic And Run" which mixes together their smorgasbord of influences - punk and metal, ska and reggae. Amazing stuff.

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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