Artist: P.O.D. Album: Payable on Death Label: Atlantic Records Rating: 6 out of 10

If you're a P.O.D. fan, take a minute to prepare yourself before putting their latest release in your CD player - prepare yourself to be disappointed. Don't expect the experimentation that led the band to successfully dabble in everything from hardcore punk to reggae on Satellite. Don't expect the distinctive riffing and aggressive rapping that sold many on the band's commercial breakthrough, The Fundamental Elements of Southtown. Now, with appropriately lowered expectations, queue up Payable on Death, and crank up the volume. That's the only way to truly appreciate the band's fifth studio album, a big, loud and ultimately hollow slab of hard rock. Judged strictly on those terms, the band's new record is a decent listen. The guitars are huge, the rhythm section is tight, and lead singer Sonny Sandoval frequently screams his lungs out. So appropriately, it's the heaviest tracks that truly stand out here. Opener "Wildfire" combines unprocessed, crunching guitars and off-kilter, half-screamed vox on its verses with big, catchy choruses. There's no rapping, no heavily-effected instruments - just straight-ahead metallic rock. It's the first clue that this is a different P.O.D. than the band that delivered nuanced radio hits like "Alive" and "Youth of the Nation" just two years ago. The oddly-titled "Asthma" switches up the formula again, juxtaposing stripped-down, arpeggio-backed verses that give way to the album's heaviest, most pummeling chorus. Along with energetic first single "Will You," it's an example of where P.O.D. succeeds in their new more-melodic direction. However, these tracks are the exception, as the bulk of the material here toes a generic hard-rock line that grew tired a couple years ago. Mid-tempo cuts like "Change the World" and "Freedom Fighters" are the most guilty of this, offering bland verses with harmony-drenched big-rock choruses that lack memorable melodies or distinctive riffs. There is some experimentation to be found elsewhere, like on the reggae-tinged "Execute the Sounds" and the funky "The Reasons," one of two songs not drenched in massive distortion, but they're not so effortlessly successful as P.O.D.'s earlier explorations. Surprisingly, instrumental closer "Eternal" - an unabashed showcase for guitarist Jason Truby of late, great Christian metallers Living Sacrifice - works much better. Backed with strummed acoustics, Truby, who replaced founding guitarist Marcos Curiel earlier this year, delivers some truly beautiful solo work over the track's long and winding six minutes. Unfortunately, it shows he's got the skills to deliver a lot more than the generic guitar riffs that dominate Payable on Death. And that's the problem that nearly sinks this album; as in Truby's case, you know the rest of the band is capable of so much more than these 12 mediocre songs. Sandoval once said he wants P.O.D. to be like U2, ever-changing, but while this album is no doubt a change, it's also a step backwards for a band that's always driven themselves forward. Devoted fans will likely give them the benefit of the doubt and look on Payable on Death as the products of an awkward adjustment phase. Let's hope that's the case, because many of the other three million newcomers that bought Satellite might not be so forgiving. - Todd Thatcher