(an initialism for Payable on Death[9]) is an American Christian metal band formed in 1992 and based in San Diego, California.

The band's line-up consists of vocalist Paul Joshua "Sonny" Sandoval, bassist Mark "Traa" Daniels, lead guitarist Marcos Curiel, and drummer Noah "Wuv" Bernardo.

[12] Over the course of their career, the band has received three Grammy Award nominations, contributed to numerous motion picture soundtracks and toured internationally.

[11][13] Their following studio album, Satellite, continued the band's success with the singles, "Alive" and "Youth of the Nation", pushing it to go triple platinum.

[15] Calling themselves Eschatos, they started playing at keg parties doing Metallica and Slayer cover songs.

After his mother's fatal illness, Sonny Sandoval converted to Christianity and was asked by Bernardo, his cousin, to join the band as a way to keep his mind straight as mentioned on their DVD, Still Payin' Dues.

After recording a demo tape, Traa Daniels joined the band in 1994 when they needed a bassist for some shows to replace Portillo.

[11] Longtime manager Tim Cook was first introduced to the band when he booked them to play his club The Where-House in Bartlesville, Oklahoma following strong local word of mouth support.

[19] The song "School of Hard Knocks" was featured on the soundtrack for Little Nicky while both "Southtown" and "Rock the Party" appeared in the movie.

"[20] On February 19, 2003, guitarist Curiel left the band due to his side project, The Accident Experiment, and "spiritual differences."

[21][22] Curiel was replaced by Jason Truby, former member of Christian metal band Living Sacrifice, and assisted with the recording of "Sleeping Awake", from The Matrix Reloaded soundtrack.

[24] With the help of the album's hit single "Will You" and "Change the World", it went on to sell over 520,000 copies and was certified Gold.

's sixth studio album Testify was slated for a December 2005 release, but was pushed back to January 24, 2006.

[26] The second single off the album, "Lights Out" was a minor hit, but was featured as the official theme song to WWE's Survivor Series 2005.

In another contribution to WWE, they performed fellow San Diego native Rey Mysterio's theme song "Booyaka 619" at WrestleMania 22.

They had said "God worked it out because Truby decided to leave the band the same day Curiel asked to rejoin."

Curiel performed with the band for the first time since his departure on the 2006 New Year's Eve episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!.

On August 4, 2007, the band played at Angel Stadium of Anaheim's annual Harvest Crusade for a crowd of 42,000, where they revealed a new song, "I'll Be Ready", originally thought to be titled "When Babylon Come for I".

On July 28, 2008, the group played a free public performance at the Orange County Choppers headquarters in Newburgh, NY, with OCC The Band opening.

During September 2008 P.O.D played alongside Redline, Behind Crimson Eyes, Alter Bridge, and Disturbed as part of the Music As a Weapon tour 2008 in Australia.

[31] On July 25, 2011, the band released a demo of the song "On Fire" as a free download on their official website.

[34] Shortly after, an article on their website stated that "Lost in Forever" would be the first single from the new album, entitled Murdered Love.

The album contains the original songs, slightly remixed, along with bonus tracks "Find a Way", "Burn It Down", acoustic versions of "Beautiful" and "West Coast Rock Steady", a remixed version of "On Fire", and music videos for "Murdered Love", "Beautiful", "Higher", and "Lost In Forever".

[44] On May 17, 2016, the band announced that they would be taking part in the Make America Rock Again super tour throughout the summer and fall 2016.

[49] In 2021, the band embarked on a major tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of Satellite with From Ashes to New and All Good Things, starting in Sturgis, South Dakota at Buffalo Chip on August 14, 2021, and ending on October 7, 2021, at the House of Blues in San Diego, California.

On October 14, 2022, the band reissued When Angels & Serpents Dance, having the album remixed and remastered as well as featuring three bonus songs, one of which, "Don't Fake It", had appeared previously as an iTunes exclusive in 2008.

[55][56] In an interview with United Rock Nations, Sandoval stated that Bernardo is “not out of the band”, but rather is taking personal space due to tension in the band and “will always be the drummer of P.O.D.”; Bernardo confirmed in an interview that he has taken a hiatus, stating that "Nothing is on bad terms, it's more we're having space right now.

"[57][58][59] In February 2024, the band announced the I Got That Tour supporting Veritas's release, which ran from April 26 to June 2 and was headlined by Bad Wolves, Norma Jean and Blind Channel.

The band chose this name to be a direct tie in with the Christian theology that explains that since Jesus died on the Cross, Christians' debts to God have been paid; in other words all believers, in their acceptance that Jesus was sacrificed for them on God's behalf, have inherited eternal life.

's influences include Boogie Down Productions, Run-DMC, U2, the Police, Bad Brains, Santana, Metallica, AC/DC, Suicidal Tendencies, Bob Marley, Primus, Earth, Wind & Fire, 24-7 Spyz, and Steel Pulse.