|
This is the album that die hard Petra fans have
been waiting for. Not since No Doubt has Petra kicked it
into high gear like this. Is this their best album? Simply
put, No, not in our opinion. It is though, a very good album to
say the least.
Here's the rundown. The first song on the
album is also the title cut, Jekyll & Hyde. This is clearly one
of the best, and hardest songs on the album. From here, comes
the catchy song It's All About Who You Know.
Bob Hartman is known for his chorus' using catchy or cliché lyrics,
and this song is right along the same vein.
Stand is not as hard musically
until you get to the chorus when it picks it up a notch. We do
like the guitar work in this song however. Lyrically
this album is as solid as Petra has always been - no holes barred, in
your face lyrically - and that's why we like Petra as much as we do.
No watered down kids stuff here, or something that may be confused
with something secular. The next song is another
great one on the album.
Woulda Shoulda
Coulda should do well on Christian rock radio stations. The
more we listen to this, the more we catch ourselves humming or singing
the chorus. This is another song that's not as hard as the title
cut, but it serves it well.
Perfect World comes
across as a confusing bit that doesn't know if it wants to be on the
adult contemporary charts or rock charts. That's disappointing,
as overall the song is catchy. It should have been left as an
adult contemporary single or a tweener. This may be the only
downfall of this album. The band has known that it's legions of
fans have been clamoring a rock album, and have promised such since
the release of Revival. While their intent is noble, to stick to
their roots as a rock band, Petra has always had a couple (2-3)
adult contemporary singles on each album, and that's simply not the
case here. Perfect World could have been a popular song
in the mainstream Christian radio.
Test of Time is a filler
song. It's a bit different musically & unique with the
background vocals taking center stage in the song, but overall we
think it's fairly bland.
I Will Seek You could have been added to Revival. It seems
like a souped-up worship song. Again, this is another one of
the songs that have a catchy chorus, but is heaped with the guitar to
make sure this was the rock album we all wanted. It seems
inconsistent with the rest of the song & a bit out of place.
Before you jump all over us, there are other songs that pull off the
transition from slow to rock (Creed is one of our favorites that does
this well).
Life As We Know It
successfully pulls off this transition. You have to check out
this song. Again, the chorus is downright catchy & you find
yourself singing along immediately.
'Till Everything I Do
was released as an Adult Contemporary single in July. This is
typical Petra fare, unfortunately it is truly the only song that fits
this genre on Jekyll & Hyde. John's soft touches on this make it
a pleasure to listen to. We only wish there was another AC song
on this album. The album is rounded out by
closing with Sacred Trust.
Lyrically this song is a great closer as it epitomizes what Petra
stands for. This song comes close to being another AC (Adult
Contemporary) candidate, but just misses the mark as 3/4 of the way
into the song it pushes it up a notch which in turn pushes it out of
the AC radio stations play list. Unfortunate, as it's another
song with strong potential. So what's the bottom
line? This album is the rocker that Petra fans world-wide were
promised. We don't mean to harp on the mainstream (Christian
market) appeal, but if Petra wants to get back to the limelight of the
late 80's & early 90's, they need to stick with the recipe that works.
That's how Petra reached and appealed to such a massive audience - it
had something everyone could listen to - hard, soft and the in
between. We like this album, and we think you should definitely
go out & get your copy! Our take is 5 out of 5. It's
still not as good as On Fire! or Beyond Belief, but we do believe it
is better than This Means War! |
