Who is Leading: the Angels or the Serpents?
Posted January 16, 2009
By Nathan,
In the introduction of C.S. Lewis’s book The Great Divorce, Lewis offers the concept of a person moving either towards hell or heaven. There is no in between. The title track Payable On Death’s (P.O.D.) latest album, When Angles and Serpents Dance, portrays that very concept (‘One must lead in the dance, Who's leading you?’). It’s particularly interesting that one of the lone bands that have been consistently a voice for Christ in the mainstream media should be singing about such a theme.
The music has always been a priority for P.O.D. and they have always been very consistent with their rap/rock/reggae but When Angels and Serpents Dance is not quite as crisp as fans might have hoped. Certainly the leading hard rock song “addicted” does a solid job paving the way with its blazing guitar riffs and a flowing brigade despite some hard vocals bordering screaming and some unpleasant sounding verse’. Overall the lighter rock song, with a slight punk and reggae influence, “shine with me” is a strong song but Sonny Sandoval lead rigid vocals doesn’t handle the punk well and ‘Lalalalalalalalalalalalalalala’ part in the song is pretty weak.
Some fans might be a little surprised by how often the flow of hard rock songs are broken up but the light rock/pop song “It can’t rain everyday” has a good tune and the frequent electric guitar strings are a good touch but the guitar driven “Tell me why” is a surprisingly solid ballad though the music undergoes little change. “Condescending” is one of standout rock songs with blazing riffs and a tune that sounds surprisingly like Anberlin and “Kalifan-Eye-A is traditional P.O.D. hard rock song which includes wild ending frenzy. The best song overall is the intense “When Angels and Serpents Dance” uses a almost flawless rock formula with the exception of the out-of-place hard bridge.
However many of the rock tunes are letdowns from the diverse but awkward and sometimes annoying “I’ll be ready” to “god forbid” which has big riffs and hard music but is pretty low on the verity scale. The light finale “rise against” doesn’t have enough verity, emotion, or drive to make it a highlight and while instrumental “roman empire” sounds cool at first a couple of listens but after a few more it becomes obvious that P.O.D. could have made things a little more interesting. Parts of sound very artistic “End of the world” but the ordinary rock tune doesn’t really sound like conventional P.OD. except the chorus. Another thing is the intros, usually consisting of electric guitar strings or loud riffs, don’t transition well into the rest of the song.
The message title cut lays down a solid foundation for the album asking what forces pull your life and even the band: is it the Angles or the Serpents? While God’s name is never mentioned P.O.D.’s metaphor for Him (‘Jah’) show up on the shallow “shine with me” (‘With a vision inside Jah love/The earth and the moon and the sun will align/With the voice from the sky above/One love’) and “Kalifan-Eye-A” which pays tribute to the bands point of origin (‘To overstand, I will stay in Jah ways to keep from going insane.’). “Rise against” ask leaders to be willing to die for what’s right (‘Rise against!/rise up for what is right!/stand alone!/are you willing to try?’).
The group offers hope to a hated girl, a father without work, a woman who faced a miscarriage ("It Can't Rain Everyday) and "God Forbid" is about drawing lines between ourselves and the world’s hostile position to our beliefs ("We're so used to bowing down that we forget how to stand up"). “End of the world” borrows from the scripture (‘the False Prophets claim to be the answer… Famine in the land of your fathers… And this is how you know it’s the end’) while “I’ll be read” takes a stand against evil with Jah’s help (‘Lord it’s getting hard but I’m trying’).
Unfortunately not everything about P.O.D.’s lyrics are clear as it’s hard to tell if “tell me why” is strictly anti-war but it leans heavily toward it (“The truth is never told/if victory is freedom then the truth is untold…No more! No war!”). “Addicted” does portray the devastating effect of addiction but spooky lines like ‘Deal me up another hit of self mutilation /Let me blow my brains’ are a little uneasy. Guilt, shame and unforgiveness result in anger on This Ain't No Ordinary Love Song". Members from uncomforting bands (Page Hamilton of Hemlet and Mike Muir of Suicidal Tendencies) show up throw the course of the album.
Such blatantly Christian lyrics leaves no question who is leading P.O.D.’s dance but there will need to be some interpreting throw some of the lyrics for entirely smooth sailing. Sadly what usually follows superb music actually leads the album as very few songs are cutting edge and P.O.D.’s signature sound becomes more generic leaving fans to go back to youth of the nation”, “satellite”, “good bye for now” or “if it wasn’t for you”.
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