Platinum-selling rock juggernaut P.O.D. — Sonny Sandoval (vocals),Marcos Curiel (guitar) and Traa Daniels (bass) — will release its 11th album, “VERITAS”. It will arrive May 3 via Mascot Records.
Last fall, the band debuted the video for “Drop”, which features a vicious vocal cameo from LAMB OF GOD singer Randy Blythe. It earned quick press accolades from Metal Injection, Consequence, Revolver, Idioteq, The Pit, Yahoo! and Knotfest. They followed with the video for equally eruptive single “Afraid To Die”, featuring JINJER vocalist Tatiana Shmayluk. The tracks combined have garnered seven million streams.
Now the band has shared the video for “I Won’t Bow Down”, yet another banger that further introduces “VERITAS”. Watch it below.
“We can’t wait for you all to hear the new album in its entirety,” states Curiel. “We’ve put so much heart and soul into this recording. We are extremely proud of it. We hope to see all your beautiful faces in city near you. Thank you for your unwavering support. We love and appreciate you all.”
Sandoval furthers: “There’s a first time for everything and the writing and recording process of this record will definitely not be the last. We might’ve just created our best album yet!”
“This will most likely be one of my favorite P.O.D. records,” adds Daniels. “There are some songs on this record that are so different from one another, but still have that P.O.D. So Cal flavor.”
“VERITAS” track listing:
01. Drop (feat. Randy Blythe)
02. I Got That
03. Afraid To Die (feat. Tatiana Shmayluk)
04. Dead Right
05. Breaking
06. Lay Me Down (Roo’s Song)
07. I Won’t Bow Down
08. This Is My Life (feat. Cove Reber)
09. Lies We Tell Ourselves
10. We Are One (Our Struggle)
11. Feeling Strange
P.O.D. has been a band — and a vital one at that — for more than 30 years. But ask the members what still inspires them after all this time, and they’ll tell you they still operate as if they’re perpetual underdogs. Yes, with every new album they release, with every show they play, these musical lifers still feel they have something to prove.
“We’re still here and we’re still creating some of the best music we’ve ever made,” says Curiel. “When it comes to heart, grit and soul, P.O.D. is your band.” Adds Sandoval, “We’re always still proving who we are — always having that punk-rock mentality.”
It’s this mindset, this unrelenting grit that has long defined the platinum-selling P.O.D. and continues to do so as they march proudly into the next era of their long-winding journey of a career. Now, nearly five years removed from their previous studio album, “Circles”, which to date has been streamed more than 50 million times and spawned the Top 25 hit “Listening To Silence”, the band returns in a major way with “VERITAS”, the eleventh P.O.D. LP and arguably their hardest-hitting record yet.
Lovers of all forms of music, P.O.D. have forever incorporated everything from rock to reggae, hip-hop to punk in their art. “We flirt with so many different styles,” offers Curiel. This go-round, however, P.O.D. decided to get back to the basics. “We made a conscious decision to keep it in the rock zone this time,” says Sandoval adding that there’s “a certain bounce and a certain two-step” to the 11 tracks that comprise the album. “These songs are a throwback to me and remind me of the raw unbridled energy of classic South San Diego P.O.D.,” offers Daniels.
Written over the course of several years, with the band typically writing a tune or two at a time with the Los Angeles-based production duo called the Heavy (Jason Bell and Jordan Miller),“VERITAS” is a cannon-shot of adrenaline to the ear drums. And for a band that has never shied away from wearing their heart on their sleeve, it’s also one of the most emotionally inspired albums of the band’s career.
The word “Veritas” — which translates to “Truth” in Latin — defined the emotional core of the album, and the album art further encapsulates that message: to Curiel, the “VERITAS” album cover, which pictures a child with its eyes blacked out, signifies “a culmination of innocence and dark hidden truths.
P.O.D.‘s audience has always been at the core of everything the band does, and to that end, their live shows remain essential to who they are. They’ve played major festivals including the Sick New World, INKcarceration and Hell And Heaven, and have shared stages with the likes of KORN, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, EVANESCENCE and SEETHER.
Now, as they look to the future with “VERITAS” as their anchor, P.O.D. are nothing if not amped about where things go from here. Well, that, and extremely grateful. “30 years ago there wasn’t this end goal,” says Sandoval. “It was always about the next record, the next show, the next tour. We’ve always enjoyed where we’re at. We’re still hustling and we’re still working hard.”
In a recent interview with Ethan Jackson of Topeka’s rock radio station KDVV/V100 conducted at this year’s Rocklahoma festival, Curiel said about the “VERITAS” album title: “It’s the old Latin dialect. You know, the old one that the priests are laying down when people are demonly possessed. It stands for truth. It’s our truth because we wrote this record during the pandemic. Individually and collectively, it’s our truth as a band, what we’ve been through, what we’ve all been through during that time, dude.”
Last August, Sandoval was asked by “The Jesea Lee Show” if the next P.O.D. album will see him and his bandmates returning to their “old-school” sound or if it will represent “a whole new era” for the group. Sonny said: “All we know how to do is be ourselves. But I think this album is definitely more rocking. The last album, ‘Circles’, was a little bit more on the alternative side and a little bit of all the elements of our styles and flavors. But this one, it’s just kind of rock, you know what I mean? But I dig it. I think it’s kind of the album that we needed. Not everybody gets all the different flavors and styles and the soulfulness of P.O.D. Sometimes I compare it to… I don’t eat McDonald’s, but they’re the number one food chain for a reason. People, they know what they get, they know what to expect. I’m more of a foodie, so I like a great burger or maybe a steak. But people love their McDonald’s, so sometimes you just kind of give ’em what they want.”