Those of us who basically ignore Petra can't afford to any longer. While not a full-fledged metal album by any means, "Beyond Belief" comes closer to it than the band ever has. 50% of the album is accessible to the melodic metal/hard rock audience. "Armed And Dangerous" starts off the album with a noisy declaration that Petra cannot be labeled a predictable pop unit any more. It and "I Am On The Rock" are gang-vocal hard-rockin' anthems. "Underground", a rocker co-written by John Elefante, has the heavy stomp of the Pakaderm sound on it. "Seen And Not Heard" has the album's loudest power chords--making for a nice, crunching anthem. The album has two ballads: "Prayer", and "Love". "Prayer" is a bit tiring, but "Love" is a show-stopper packed with all the emotion the subject deserves. It makes listening to the album over again seem like a good idea. The remaining tunes are pretty standard Petra pop fare. "What's In A Name", one of the weaker musical cuts, takes a cool look at the man of Jesus, kinda similar to Larry Norman's "The Outlaw" and Holy Soldier's "Stranger". Overall, Petra hasn't changed its identity, but they've made enough improvements to warrant me giving some of these tunes a repeat listen.
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