Satellite

During an era when most heavy metal bands wallowed in their own misery, singing about pain and sadness, P.O.D. offered a more optimistic alternative. The band had been releasing music since the late '90s, but it was this album rather than its commercially overlooked predecessor, The Fundamental Elements of Southtown (1998), that reached out to countless listeners. Quite simply, you can't deny the emotion P.O.D. funnels into its songs. The sentiment feels genuine, as if this band truly cares about its listeners, one of the key reasons why this album shook the metal world in 2002. And, as most listeners will no doubt agree, it did so for the better. The metal world needed an album like Satellite in 2002, just like it needed a band like P.O.D. to challenge longtime metal heavyweights like Tool and Korn for supremacy. The spiritual, emotional band writes songs about promise and hope -- songs that inspire you to celebrate life, not despise it. It's not just the singing of vocalist Sonny either, though his soaring voice has much to do with it. Rather, it's the band as a whole that gives the songs on Satellite so much affective power. These four guys obviously love making music together, and that passion comes across in every song. Guitarist Marco, bassist Traa, and drummer Wuv fuse a variety of influences -- metal, hip-hop, dub, Rage Against the Machine -- and create music that stands on its own, apart from the many other nu-metal bands of the time. In particular, "Alive" and "Youth of the Nation" stand out as rallying calls for metal fans looking for music about living, not dying.