LOS ANGELES — P.O.D. were en route to their San Diego rehearsal space in March when they were suddenly surrounded by helicopters and police cars.

Two miles away, a shooting rampage at Santana High School had left two students dead, another 13 injured and a ninth-grader under arrest.

The shots rang a little too close to home for the Christian rap-rockers, who decided to immediately unload their emotions in the studio.

"It was kind of depressing, kind of a downer, 'cause it was like, 'That could be my sister or someone we know in there,'" guitarist Marcos said recently. "Those kids never expected to go to school and get shot at. We had done some benefit shows for the Columbine shootings, and it's always been on the heart of the band to address this. When we got back to the studio, we decided to write a song about it."

The result, "Youth of the Nation," appears on the band's fourth studio album, Satellite, which lands September 11. The anthem takes the perspective of a murdered teen wishing he could say goodbye to his family while trying to understand his killer. Frontman Sonny Sandoval rap-sings, "Maybe this kid was reaching out for love/ Or maybe for a moment/ He forgot who he was/ Or maybe this kid just wanted to be hugged."

While bewilderment and regret mark "Youth," P.O.D. strive to keep it positive on the follow-up to 1999's The Fundamental Elements of Southtown. Sandoval continues to serve up messages of hope and inspiration with lyrics that touch on the bandmembers' beliefs. "Every day is a new day/ I'm thankful for every breath I take," he sings in "Alive," the album's first single.

"I think our belief in our faith in this industry is the whole irony of it all," Sandoval said. "People see rock and roll as chaos, sex and drugs — you know, the whole concept. Everyone's complaining and whining, and everybody's miserable and evil. P.O.D. come out and have fun. We love what we do, we love what we stand for and we love that people come out and listen to our music."

Like its predecessor, Satellite is a mixed bag of hip-hop, hardcore, reggae and Latin elements. But the band went after bigger, more melodic hooks this time around, with Sandoval staking out a greater vocal range and frequently opting to sing rather than rap.

"Once we got in the studio and had the chance to mess around with the vocals, we just tried different things and it came to be what it is," Sandoval said. "We tried some slower stuff, some groovier up-tempo stuff, some punk stuff, some reggae stuff. We just mixed it all up again."

The album includes guest appearances by two of P.O.D.'s heroes, Jamaican toaster Eek-A-Mouse and H.R. of hardcore band Bad Brains. H.R., who brought his two pet birds along with him for the recording session, turns up on the reggae-punk number "Without Jah Nothing."

"The whole time we were watching him, just bringing back memories from when we were little kids," Sandoval said. "We looked up to those guys, so it's our way of paying respect to his work and his art and what he's done. Hopefully, we can bring that around to more people. Most of the old-school heads and even the bands who were inspired by this man are gonna be like, 'Dude, P.O.D. straight gave it up to this man.'"

P.O.D. — who also include bassist Traa and drummer Wuv —recently shot a video for "Alive" in Los Angeles with director Francis Lawrence (Aerosmith, Jennifer Lopez). The band plans to mount a headlining tour in October.