By now Petra (meaning 'rock' in Hebrew or Greek or something) have been around for almost thirty years. In duration, Petra is the Rolling Stones of the Christian rock scene. They have put out over twenty albums and sold millions of recordings. I have had the pleasure of meeting them on two occasions and helping them set up their stage for shows. They are not only great musicians, they are great people. Looking back, Beyond Belief now seems to have been a summing-up of the Christian rock world, from the late sixties to 1990. It was this album, more than any other besides perhaps Stryper's 1984 debut "The Yellow & Black Attack" and Vengeance (Rising)'s 1988 debut "Human Sacrifice" that defined where Christian rock would be going in the next decade. Petra had been building intensity throughout the mid to late 80's-ever since former Head East vocalist John Schlitt jumped on the bandwagon in 1986. Their successive releases "Back To the Street", "This Means War" and "On Fire" each had a harder edge than the previous. There are some great tunes here, from the galloping opener and the riff-laden "I Am On the Rock" to the keyboard driven intensity of "Creed", a powerful statement of belief. A number of nice ballads are also contained. "Seen And Not Heard" sounds suspiciously like KISS' "Heaven's On Fire", but who cares? The other tracks fill in the album nicely. Petra is (was/probably still is) definitely arena-rock, but they did it well on this recording, one of, if not their best seller.