Petra - "On Fire!"

Petra - On Fire!
1988, Star Song

1. All Fired Up
2. Hit You Where You Live
3. Mine Field
4. First Love
5. Defector
6. Counsel of the Holy
7. Somebody's Gonna Praise His Name
8. Open Book
9. Stand in the Gap
10. Homeless Few

Hey kids! It's story time!

A long time ago my cousin and I were really into music. We watched endless hours of MTV, bought tapes by the handfuls (when we could afford it), and generally thought and talked about music 24/7. We had some relatives who we called "holy rollers" because they were Christians and didn't do anything but talk about Jesus 24/7. So one day after church I had said something to my cousin about Skid Row (her favorite band) and she said, "I don't listen to them anymore." I was astounded. She had become a "holy roller." I reminded her that we had vowed never to become those (it didn't work out so well...). At some point she gave me a tape of Petra's On Fire! and I think a Michael Peace tape. I quite enjoyed it at the time and that pretty much kicked off my official entry into the Christian rock world. So when I saw this in a little thrift store on vacation I snatched it straight away.

You know what? It's still pretty dang good. Better, now that I have more of a mind about me to appreciate things. They had embraced an 80's hard rock sound and it totally worked for them. Some of these songs even border on metal (like "Defector" and "Counsel of the Holy"). After this album they would hit their peak with Beyond Belief, but On Fire! is a great album to this day.

Useless Fact: Jon and Dino Elephante produced this disc. You can tell because the production on their albums is always super clean and shiny.