The Petra Zone

What does everyone think?

I'd put the first 3 songs of On Fire! Up against the first 3 of any Petra album. This Means War! is a close second.

"Best" can mean different things.

Here is my dilemma. I listened to Petra BEFORE they broke and at the time when Christian rock was blossoming. So, the best for me will mean game changing/we have not had this before/no album could ever make this big of an impact again. For me, it's More Power To Ya'. Because of the times and the infancy of Christian Rock, that album was HUGE. CIT&S on vinyl and cassette (had to have both because they were different) would be my close second, because it wrapped up the Volz era with a bow. Back To The Street was a turd. That should have been a Volz record.

brent wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 02, 2018 8:38 pm

"Best" can mean different things.

Here is my dilemma. I listened to Petra BEFORE they broke and at the time when Christian rock was blossoming. So, the best for me will mean game changing/we have not had this before/no album could ever make this big of an impact again. For me, it's More Power To Ya'. Because of the times and the infancy of Christian Rock, that album was HUGE. CIT&S on vinyl and cassette (had to have both because they were different) would be my close second, because it wrapped up the Volz era with a bow. Back To The Street was a turd. That should have been a Volz record.

More Power to Ya was a very good album, though I prefer On Fire! Back to the Street always seems way too keyboard heavy, and most of the songs weren't that good. I could see that fitting Volz's style quite well, actually.

If I only picked one from each era:
Number one for me would be CITAS.
Second would be Petra Praise.

I went with On Fire. TMW is on of Bob's best songs ever. I still get chills hearing the opening verse live. I also think MPTY is one of his best songs. I personally like the beefed up version on Back to the Rock better. But, I went with On Fire because I really liked heavy, melodic beefy tunes back then. All Fired Up was one of those crank it up and cruise down the strip type tunes for me. No surprise that it was included on the Ultimate Metal compilation. I can recall listening to the UM cd in college while working gym maintenance with another guy who was into really heavy stuff. Torniquet, Living Sacrifice, Eternal Decision, and the like. He commented about how heavy All Fired Up was in comparison to the other songs on the compilation. On Fire had a number of good, heavy songs.

PiedPiper wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 02, 2018 8:09 pm

I'd put the first 3 songs of On Fire! Up against the first 3 of any Petra album.

They were all very good hard rocking songs. On Fire! also had some nice guitar solos, like in Hit You Where You Live.

I really loved On Fire! for me that album was a game changer for Petra; I feel the same about MPTY for the Volz era, but the guitar riffs and the new bass style brought Petra different harder audience in the fold. Also I've heard over the years that even though MPTY is/was a great album it really honestly didn't fit into its era of music; in a lot of aspects from the style, sound, and visual it was really a late 70's type album. MPTY was 5 years too late IMO.

More Power To Ya is one of my all-time favorite Petra albums. A great collection of songs, and that classic Johnathan David Brown sound. Now there's a man who knew how to mix an album.

"Beat The System"

Beat the System is a quintessential 80's album, for good and bad. I happen to like it quite a lot.

brent wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 02, 2018 8:38 pm

"Best" can mean different things.

Here is my dilemma. I listened to Petra BEFORE they broke and at the time when Christian rock was blossoming. So, the best for me will mean game changing/we have not had this before/no album could ever make this big of an impact again. For me, it's More Power To Ya'. Because of the times and the infancy of Christian Rock, that album was HUGE. CIT&S on vinyl and cassette (had to have both because they were different) would be my close second, because it wrapped up the Volz era with a bow. Back To The Street was a turd. That should have been a Volz record.

"Back to The Street was a turd" Why the hate on BTTS? I see it all the time on this site....Are you really gonna tell me that Keneniah is better than Altar Ego? or that I am Available is better than Thankful Heart? or that All the Kings Horses is better than Shakin the House? Really people???? TMW is so "Canned 80's sounding"...I think the songs on BTTS are way better than TMW.....Dead Reckoning Vs. Whole World????? Don't let your heart be hardened Vs. Fool's Gold Or King's Ransom? Really???? it must be me.......I love BTTS.....I think TMW is the turd....I think I listen to that album once every 2-3 years...it never improves to me.....

Mountain Man wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 31, 2018 9:06 am

Beat the System is a quintessential 80's album, for good and bad. I happen to like it quite a lot.

Mostly good though

Rusty wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 06, 2018 8:52 am

brent wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 02, 2018 8:38 pm

"Best" can mean different things.

Here is my dilemma. I listened to Petra BEFORE they broke and at the time when Christian rock was blossoming. So, the best for me will mean game changing/we have not had this before/no album could ever make this big of an impact again. For me, it's More Power To Ya'. Because of the times and the infancy of Christian Rock, that album was HUGE. CIT&S on vinyl and cassette (had to have both because they were different) would be my close second, because it wrapped up the Volz era with a bow. Back To The Street was a turd. That should have been a Volz record.

"Back to The Street was a turd" Why the hate on BTTS? I see it all the time on this site....Are you really gonna tell me that Keneniah is better than Altar Ego? or that I am Available is better than Thankful Heart? or that All the Kings Horses is better than Shakin the House? Really people???? TMW is so "Canned 80's sounding"...I think the songs on BTTS are way better than TMW.....Dead Reckoning Vs. Whole World????? Don't let your heart be hardened Vs. Fool's Gold Or King's Ransom? Really???? it must be me.......I love BTTS.....I think TMW is the turd....I think I listen to that album once every 2-3 years...it never improves to me.....

I love BTTS too. It`s classic Petra in my opinion.