Testify (P.O.D. album)

Testify is the sixth studio album by American Christian rock band P.O.D.. It was originally set for a December 2005 release but finally slated for January 24, 2006 by Atlantic Records. This is P.O.D.'s first major-label album not produced by Howard Benson. It was also their last album with Jason Truby on guitar, before he left the band in December 2006.

Testify
Studio album by
P.O.D.
ReleasedJanuary 24, 2006
RecordedDecember 2004 - July 2005
Studio
Genre
Length50:19
LabelAtlantic
ProducerGlen Ballard, P.O.D.
P.O.D. chronology
The Warriors EP, Volume 2
(2005)		 Testify
(2006)		 Greatest Hits: The Atlantic Years
(2006)
P.O.D. studio album chronology
Payable on Death
(2003)		 Testify
(2006)		 When Angels & Serpents Dance
(2008)
Alternative cover
Singles from Testify
  1. "Goodbye for Now"
    Released: November 8, 2005
  2. "Sounds Like War"
    Released: 2005
  3. "Lights Out"
    Released: February 17, 2006

This album was also available in the Testify (Limited Edition) version with a bonus CD (called Beyond Testify) featuring commentary by the band on every song on the album, as well as four bonus songs and a remix that didn't make the album. The album's first single, "Goodbye for Now," went on to become the No. 1 music video on MTV's TRL and became P.O.D.'s unprecedented 4th No. 1 video. The song also enjoyed heavy play on the radio. Testify became the No. 1 selling Christian album on Billboard for several weeks and, as of May 2006, had been in the Top 25 for a total of 16 weeks. It opened at No. 9 on the Billboard 200 with 58,000 scans[7] and has sold over 210,000 copies in the US and over 500,000 copies worldwide.

Musical style and production

Bassist Traa Daniels stated "This album defines who we are musically as a foursome more than any other album that we've ever done." He added, "What we tried to do on this album. . . was to take people on a journey musically. . . I think we have a lot of different elements." Sonny Sandoval also noted, "We have one of the heaviest songs we ever wrote and one of the softest songs we ever wrote."[8]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic(55/100)[9]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[10]
CBN[11]
Christianity Today[12]
Cross Rhythms[13]
Entertainment WeeklyC+[14]
IGN(6.8/10)[15]
Jesus Freak Hideout[16]
musicOMH(favorable)[17]
Rolling Stone[18]
Spin(6/10)[19]

Upon release, Testify was met with mixed reception from major music publications. On an aggregate score out of 100, Metacritic gave it 55 based on 11 reviews.[9] Jason Bracelin of Blender gave the album two stars out of five and proclaimed, "On their fifth disc, these 'jah soldiers' run low on ammo" and elaborated that "on the ska-tinged 'Strength of My Life,' they sound like the world’s most polite rude boys, while 'Goodbye for Now' is the kind of listless modern rock that could be bottled and sold as a sleep aid."[20] Rolling Stone's Christian Hoard similarly noted "Testify is not as pompous or overblown as you might think; it just feels tired. . . The most notable aspect of Testify, in fact, is how little P.O.D., or their guitars, have to say."[18]

AllMusic's Matt Collar, however, gave the album 4/5 rating and considered guitarist Jason Truby's work a "truly inspired and technically brilliant performance." He also commended Sandoval's enthusiastic vocals regarded the album as representing "a band reborn".

Track listing

All tracks are written by P.O.D., except where noted.

No.TitleLength
1."Roots in Stereo" (featuring Matisyahu)4:42
2."Lights Out"2:47
3."If You Could See Me Now"3:07
4."Goodbye for Now"4:34
5."Sounds Like War"3:53
6."On the Grind" (featuring Sick Jacken and Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E.[21])4:25
7."This Time"4:41
8."Mistakes & Glories"3:38
9."Let You Down"4:15
10."Teachers"4:21
11."Strength of My Life" (featuring Matisyahu)3:37
12."Say Hello"2:32
13."Mark My Words" (featuring Sick Jacken)3:43
Bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
14."Not Your Kind" (Japan bonus track)2:37
15."Your Eyes" (Walmart exclusive bonus track)4:23
Unreleased track
No.TitleLength
1."Here We Go" (Previously unreleased but was put on Greatest Hits: The Atlantic Years)3:28

Beyond Testify is also a limited edition second disc that features exclusive web content, commentaries for all the songs, and the following bonus tracks:

Beyond Testify
No.TitleLength
1."Generation"4:25
2."Bridge to Burn" (previously unreleased B-side from the Payable on Death sessions)4:26
3."Will You" (Chris Vrenna Remix)3:54
4."Every Time I Die" (demo)3:31
5."New Wave" (demo of "Let You Down")3:39

Personnel

P.O.D.

Additional personnel

  • Jordan Orava - synthesizer
  • Glen Ballard - programming, keyboards, production
  • Jonathan Davis - was scheduled to perform backup vocals on the song "Mistakes and Glories" but could not due to scheduling conflicts. Jason Truby recorded the sections left for Davis in his place.
  • Matisyahu - guest vocals on "Roots on Stereo" and "Strength of My Life"
  • Katy Perry - background vocals on "Goodbye for Now".
gollark: Your ethics council is bad. The PIERB would totally have allowed that.
gollark: HBasic?
gollark: So by increasing everyone else's raw IQ score or creating one very intelligent entity I can decrease your IQ.
gollark: By definition it is normally distributed with mean 100 and standard deviation 15.
gollark: I actually managed to build a better IQ-stealing device using some useful properties of IQ.

References
  1. Matt Collar. "Testify". AllMusic.
  2. "P.O.D. - Testify (album review )". Sputnikmusic.
  3. Brian Schiller (January 25, 2006). "P.O.D. Testify - Album Review - Slant Magazine". Slant Magazine.
  4. "P.O.D." PopMatters.
  5. "P.O.D., 'Testify' (Atlantic)". Spin.
  6. "P.O.D. "Testify" Review".
  7. Harris, Chris Simon Cowell's Creation Beats Foxx And Blige For Billboard #1 MTV.com (February 1, 2006). Retrieved on 4-15-09.
  8. Moss, Corey P.O.D. Find New Hope With Interfaith Matisyahu Marriage MTV.com (January 25, 2006). Retrieved on 4-15-09.
  9. "Testify Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic. Retrieved June 23, 2012.
  10. Collar, Matt. "Testify - P.O.D." Allmusic.
  11. "Album Reviews Archive". CBN.
  12. "Testify, Christian Music Reviews". Christianity Today. Archived from the original on January 28, 2006.
  13. "P.O.D. - Testify". Cross Rhythms.
  14. Hermes, Will (January 30, 2006). "Testify Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved March 17, 2012.
  15. Spence D. (January 24, 2006). "P.O.D - Testify". IGN. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  16. "P.O.D., "Testify" Review". Jesus Freak Hideout.
  17. Bansal, Vik (January 23, 2006). "P.O.D. - Testify". musicOMH. Retrieved June 23, 2012.
  18. Hoard, Christian (January 23, 2006). "Testify : Review". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on February 7, 2006. Retrieved March 17, 2012.
  19. Catucci, Nick (January 31, 2006). "P.O.D., 'Testify' (Atlantic)". Spin. Retrieved August 18, 2012.
  20. "Testify: P.O.D." Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved September 2, 2007.
  21. LLC, SPIN Media (January 15, 2017). "SPIN". SPIN Media LLC. Retrieved January 15, 2017 – via Google Books.
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