I've been worrying about Heaven's Metal lately... With "A Walk On The Lighter Side" (HM #43) and a poster of Mad At The World... Is marriage mellowing our editor out? (I hear his wife likes Country! Egh!) I don't know about you, but seeing a review of a Petra album in these pages scares me. I guess it's time for a listen.
Hmm... Sounds good. Now, it ain't heavy metal and it's still Petra's "nice boy" rock, but these nice boys have turned things up a notch - like they do in concert. I guess getting away from John & Dino's polishing touch was a good choice. I wonder if doing a Petra album consumes more than its fair share of time, because Pakaderm has released some nice aggressive sounds since John & Dino stopped doing Petra albums. Hmm?!
First listen here doesn't do the band justice, because the old similarities of Petra's style are still prominent. It takes a few more listens to pick up on the resonating power and rumbling low end present in the album's six big rockers. Some of the guitar rhythms, like in "Good News" and "Underneath the Blood" have some bad boy attitude (a la AC-DC) to 'em. Petra? Go figure.
The first ballad, "He's Been in my Shoes," has some real style to it as well, thanks to the bottleneck slide guitar mixed over an acoustic strumming. Fans of Steve Perry's "Oh, Sherry" may dig the sweet chorus in "Marks of the Cross."
Well, Petra has really issued a musical wake-up call to themselves. Way to go! Just don't tell the editor I like it.