Petra: No Doubt

Word Records & Music

Review by Bill Hobbs

Revitalized--No Doubt About It

After more than two decades of recording and touring, some bands might find it hard to come up with something new, a fresh sound to keep their fans-and themselves-interested.

But Petra isn't just some band. Arguably, it is the premiere hard-rock band in Christian music, the genre's top-selling group. With albums like This Means War!, Petra Praise: The Rock Cries Out, and Beat the System, Petra has sold more than six million records. Its album Beyond Belief, one of Petra's three Grammy award-winning albums (for Rock Gospel Album of the Year) received a gold record certification recently for sales of a half million copies.

Nothing lasts forever-but when it comes to their ability to remain vital and interesting, Petra's sixteenth studio album No Doubt leaves none: this band still has a lot to offer.

That was in doubt two years ago when Petra released their last album of new material, Wake-Up Call. While that album sometimes melded strong lyrics with accomplished playing, overall it had the feel of an aging band just going through the motions ingrained during the years since the band was formed in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1972.

Their audiences had fewer and fewer kids, more and more adults. To the current generation of youth, for whom Christian music now offers as many style choices as the secular record bins, Petra's Van Halen-ish heavy-metal licks and power ballads had a too-familiar ring.

They should give a listen to No Doubt. Musically, Petra is a changed band. Lyrically, it is as strong as ever.

Always a hard-rocking band, Petra's sound now combines the highly-evolved melodic metal sound of the rock world's Van Halen with the restless, creative energy of contemporary grunge rock. Credit that to the addition of new guitarist David Lichens (who is the same age as the band's 1974 debut album but still has played with New Jersey rockers Bon Jovi) and keyboard player Jim Cooper, who co-wrote five songs on No Doubt.

"These guys bring a new vitality into Petra that works very well," says lead singer John Schlitt.

Lichens grew up in Portland, Oregon, not far from the grunge rock scene in Seattle, and brings that influence to Petra's guitar sound. That kind of musical yeast, Schlitt believes, will keep Petra's sound fresh and help attract new, younger fans.

"We need to stay fresh musically, and these changes help us to do that. It's a little more current, sounds we've never used before. It's what kids are hearing now, though we kept some sounds Petra fans will certainly recognize. We went into this wanting to do something new."

Lichens was hired to replace Bob Hartman, the band's founder, principal writer, lead guitarist and vocalist, who decided to stop touring as part of Petra. Now he focuses on writing songs and playing with the band during recording sessions. The change has paid immediate dividends with stronger songs, and infused Petra with a shot of youthful energy, ready to rock-and inspire-a new generation of fans.

From the quiet, melodic title track to the rhythmic rock of "More Than a Thousand Words," the drum-driven electric-guitar attack of "Right Place" and the low-down garage band sound of "Think Twice," the lyrics for No Doubt are dead-on. They range from smartly written calls to a tough, muscular Christianity that never sugarcoats the difficulties of living such a life and the many opportunities to backslide:

"You could think of ways of defending your deeds/ Justify the way you wanted to be," sings Schlitt. "Wait just a minute...did you ever think twice? If you don't bother, gonna pay the price."

The song "More Than a Thousand Words" is a twist on the old cliche about the worth of a picture. Hartman's lyrics tell of seeing an artist's painting of Jesus and, knowing it was just an artist's rendering, still letting the scene of Jesus on the cross cause him to reflect on his faith and Jesus' sacrifice:

"If a picture's worth a thousand words/Then it won't help me at all/Only words are never gonna say/What I feel for you today."

No Doubt was the right choice for naming the album. The song is a pretty one with a fine message about the tests of faith all Christians face. "No Doubt," a song about the tests of faith all Christians face, starts with a gently picked acoustic guitar and builds slowly in intensity, mirroring the song's message that such trials build the intensity of a person's faith:

"Sometimes we want to think we know/The ways He will choose to make us grow/But it's never our way of choosing/And we can't always see what He's using. . . And after all is done we find out/All we really need to have is no doubt."

Bill Hobbs if a a reviewer of Christian music from Nashville, TN.