The album opens strong with the title track, leading in with a subtle guitar followed by a ferocious riff and pounding drums. Petra maintains a hint of arena rock flavor in their newfound modern rock sound, but it works. Bordering on metal at times, Jekyll & Hyde ultimately still feels like a Petra record, due to Hartman's familiar songwriting and Schlitt's characteristic vocals. While the album isn't particularly innovative, it's a powerful rock effort. The only drawback to the record is it's mere half-an-hour running time.
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Best album since Beyond Belief| Posted July 26, 2007
This album rocks. I went to Family Christian Store the day it was released, however, and the employees did not even know it was coming out and had to search for the album in the back room before the finally found it. It's a shame that the album did not put Petra back in the spotlight like it should have. The lyrics are absolutely solid. As typical with most Petra albums before No Doubt, most of the songs are hard rock fare with a couple of slower songs thrown in for Mainstream Christian radio play. Unfortunately, Christian radio did not pick up any of the songs. The title song speaks of how we too often war between sin and doing what is right. "All About Who You Know" speaks of artists making it big because of knowing people in high places, when the Christian should know Jesus Christ first. "Til everything I do" was the first single released to Mainstream Christian radio, even though it didn't get picked up very well, but it just talks of putting God first in everything we do. "Sacred trust" could've been another mainstream radio hit, but it didn't get picked up either. It is a great song, just talking about how much we as Christians have been entrusted with. We need to be careful with what we have. Petra retired with the follow-up live album, Farewell. It's a shame, because Jekyll & Hyde was such a great album. It rocked where it should, with solid scriptural lyrics in a day of shallowness in Christian music.