P.O.D., “Veritas.”

The members of P.O.D., or Payable On Death, wear their heart on their sleeve on the band’s 11th album, Veritas, and the result is one of their most urgent, aggressive and heavy statements.

After recording three albums in six years, the band took six years off since 2018’s Circles. The extra time seems to have paid dividends as Veritas, Latin for “truth,” is pointed and fiery, embracing the band’s rap-rock an reggae roots. This pushed the sound into a riff-driven heavier direction.

This is most evident on opening track “Drop,” which explodes out of the gate with dramatic narration. The bass drops nod to both the title and to electronica, from which it’s derived. As vocalist Sonny Sandoval spits his signature rhymes, Lamb Of God frontman Randy Blythe enters the fray with a thunderous scream on the bridge.

“Set fire to the system/ Set fire ’til they listen,” Blythe sings.

“I Got That” has a swaying swagger to it with some adept work by guitarist Marcos Curiel, more or less explaining P.O.D.’s staying power for more than three decades.

“We got that underground original/ Nothing to prove,” Sandoval sings and screams.

The band rekindles some of the magic of 2001’s Satellite on the anthemic and aggressive “Afraid to Die,” which features Ukrainian-born vocalist Tatiana Shmailyuk from the band Jinjer. The stadium-sized anthem mixes a message of defiance and strength in the face of adversity. Shmailyuk’s haunting vocal melody plays off of Sandoval’s well before a gang vocal enters. “Dead Right” is a quick-hitter with a punky aggressiveness to it, flexing dynamic transitions between hard and soft.

That signature P.O.D. sound is again achieved on “Breaking,” from the rhymes to the riffs and upbeat rap-influenced rhythm. The band effectively takes its core sound and freshens it up. Mid-tempo rocker “Lay Me Down” has a rawness in the singing and the song feels much bigger than it has a right to, especially in the chorus.

“Live your life/ Keep the faith/ Don’t ever cry for me!” Sandoval demands.

The passionate delivery is no coincidence, the track is subtitled “Roo’s Song,” a nod to Sandoval’s friend Roo Bulbitz, who passed away unexpectedly two years ago.

P.O.D. has always thrived with its working class message that’s both positive and encouraging; it’s not a surprise for a ban that used to play church sanctuaries. That lyrical aesthetic arrives on “I Won’t Bow Down,” one of the album’s highlights. “This Is My Life” changes things up with more of a punk, post-grunge and reggae hybrid. Some of that could be chalked up to the collaboration with fellow SoCal  post-hardcore rockers Dead American.

But then there’s “Lies We Tell Ourselves,” an earnest and anthemic mid-tempo rocker, on which Curiel takes the opportunity to add a guitar solo for good measure. But it’s the heaviness where P.O.D. thrives, an that returns returns fairly quickly with “We Are One (Our Struggle),” which tackles broadly the cultural and societal barriers that keep people back from succeeding.

The album concludes on a subdued and atmospheric “Feeling Strange,” which opens with a melodic guitar part played over a looping beat before bursting to a fist-pumping chorus. Veritas is a reflection of the music “truth” as P.O.D. sees it.

Follow writer Mike DeWald at Twitter.com/mike_dewald.