Petra – Back to the Rock

Petra – Back to the Rock
2010 – Sony Music

Petra doesn’t need much introduction anymore. The band is considered one of the pioneers of Christian rock. The band was formed in 1972. In three decades they made about 20 studio albums, won 10 Dove Awards, were nominated for 13 Grammy Awards and received 4 of them. After a long career the band announced their farewell 2005.Therefore it was surprising that in 2010 they announced there would be another record under the name ‘Classic Petra’. An album with 10 newly recorded classics and 2 new songs. The band would be formed with the line-up of early 80’s.

The album starts strong with the song ‘Bema Seat’ from the album ‘Not of This World’ and ‘Clean’ from ‘Beat The System’. The sound is much fuller and are truly great re-works of the originals. It is no different with ‘Angel of Light’ from the album ‘Never Say Die’. Some great new rock versions of the old classics.

‘Rose Colored Stained Glass Windows’ seems to be the quiet part on the CD. The addition of the strings is nice, but I miss the acoustic guitar from the original. The CD builds calmly from there with ‘Godpleaser’ from ‘Not Of This World’ The song very much has a distinctive sound and reminds me of several other CCM artists from that time.

We continue with a few songs from the album, ‘More Power To Ya’. ‘Second Wind’ has been given a clear synthesizer sound. The song ‘More Power To Ya’ is still a great ballad. The acoustic guitar, Greg’s vocals and also the lyrics are very strong. We continue with the solid performance of ‘Let Everything That Hath Breath’.
‘Grave Robber’ still hasn’t not lost its power. It’s a wonderful performance with a very good structure. The strings are certainly an added value.

Adonai clearly shows the synthesizer roots of the album ‘Beat the System’ without sounding cheesy. Nice guitars, good vocals and a useful addition of the synthesizers make it one of the best tracks of the album. The CD ends with two new songs. ‘Back To The Rock’ and ‘Too Big To Fail’ Both clearly have the distinctive Petra sound.

Petra shows with this CD that they still can do it. ‘Back To The Rock’ is not just an album that the old Petra fans will enjoy, but they perhaps could even find a new fan-base.

Review by: Sieto Kooijker