Radically different style, but still classic Petra fare
5
By Trellus
Make no mistake, this album from Petra differed rather radically from its predecessors, and as the last of the Greg X Volz studio albums (discounting Classic Petra in 2011) before John Schlitt replaced him as lead vocalist, the techno rock sound of Beat The System left a lot to be desired with those who had grown accustomed to the sound in Not Of This World and More Power To Ya in particular.
However, the excellent songwriting continues, and even with the Fairlight-driven, synth-heavy sound, classic Petra comes through unmistakably: Bob Hartman wrote some gems here and Volz’s vocals are perhaps the best of his Petra career here, from the high-pitched rock “yowl!” that ends the monstrous title opener, to the stratosphere in “Voice In The Wind” and “Adonai”, the latter of which is also universally recognized even by most Petheads who rejected the overall sound of this album as one of the best Petra songs ever, and this is validated by the band’s decision to include a reworked version of it in 2011’s “Back To The Rock” album with the Classic Petra lineup including Volz.
Other songs that stand out to me: the title opener, “Beat The System”, which starts off the album with a big wall of sound that perfectly matches the album cover with the wall of monitors and bright white light breaking through, a well-written, powerful driving chorus, and “It Is Finished”, with its powerful, deep hammer beat that you can imagine driving nails into a cross, and a well-executed, angry guitar counter-melody in the verses (after the initial intro and “hammer pound”) that does admittedly get lost a bit in the synth-heavy foreground, and an outro that is an epic and luscious soundscape if you can forgive its very digitized character - but I think it actually adds to the sense of the perfection and absolute precision of the finality of the work on the cross.
Also tremendously noteworthy is “Hollow Eyes,” the only song that really received any fair amount of radio airplay on Christian radio, and a truly haunting, moving song both sonically and lyrically, and the weird Fairlight bleeps and sounds that open the song add to this eerie feel brilliantly, as Petra reminds us that “the least of these is hungry…sick…needs clothing” and that those hollow eyes that look at us are the eyes of Jesus, who is the “least of these.”
Another song that stands out to me is “Voice In The Wind”, a dreamy, cloudy song which captures Greg X Volz’s powerful voice, especially near the end of the track, and the song as a whole is both haunting with its minor tones yet hopeful, telling us of the “voice in the wind that calls your name, gently beckons to follow and obey.” There is even a simple but beautiful, melodic guitar solo in this song, though again, in keeping with the techno-rock theme of the album, it is blended into a warm but digital-synth soundscape rather than blaring through in full rock glory as might have happened had the song been on the previous release, Not of This World.
“Computer Brains” grates on some people’s nerves, but the lyrics are powerful and the creepy computer sounds perfectly convey the message. I myself find some of the robotized, processed vocal effects a bit much, but the verses are memorable: “are you a user or being used? has your memory been abused? take random samples from your mind, and analyze what you may find!” “You can clear all your memory, and be transformed when you find the key; think on the things that will bring you peace, confusing data soon will cease."
“Clean” is also lyrically strong, and I actually like the digitized intro that bleeds over from “Computer Brains” outro. This song was also selected for the 2011 Classic Petra release and re-recorded with less of the synth-heavy aura that enveloped it here.
Another two songs that many Petheads dismiss on this album I actually enjoy thoroughly: “Witch Hunt”, a whimsical tune, and “God Gave Rock and Roll To You”, an Argent cover that they revisted, having already covered in 1977’s “Come and Join Us,” their second album. Their first cover was well done, but I actually like this version better because it is much more Volz-heavy, and I love his falsetto in the chorus. I have played this song over and over again and it grows on me more and more.
As for “Witch Hunt”, I found some of the silly vocal voiceovers to detract from what I think is actually an otherwise strong song lyrically and even melodically; the chorus is memorable: “looking for evil wherever we can find it, off an a tangent, hope the Lord won’t mind it!”
Overall, I absolutely love this album because of its uniqueness in the substantial Petra catalog. The songs fit together very well sonically, and the first four tracks in particular are almost perfect as a sequence, giving the album a very, well, album-feel. This is an excellent, if different, Petra album that I think is too often overlooked.
