''This Means War!'' is the ninth studio album of the

Christian rock Christian rock is a form of rock music that features lyrics focusing on matters of Christian faith, often with an emphasis on Jesus in Christianity, Jesus. This music is typically performed by Christians, Christian individuals. The extent to whi ...

band,

Petra Petra (; "Rock"), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu (Nabataean Aramaic, Nabataean: or , *''Raqēmō''), is an ancient city and archaeological site in southern Jordan. Famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit systems, P ...

. It was released in 1987. In this album, the band started to refine their movement into a more

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

arena rock Arena rock (also known as stadium rock, pomp rock or corporate rock) is a style of rock music that became mainstream in the 1970s. It typically involves radio-friendly rock music that was designed to be played for large audiences. As hard rock ...

sound, still retaining keyboard synthesizers to back the driving guitar work. This album also signaled the beginning of a military motif present in the song lyrics that the band would carry through several of their following albums.

Track listing

Awards

* Nominated for

Grammy Award for Best Gospel Performance The Grammy Award for Best Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music Performance is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. According to the 54th Grammy Awards descri ...

in 1987. * Won the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

's Contemporary Christian album of the year in 1988.

Personnel

Petra *

Bob Hartman Robert "Bob" Hartman (born December 26, 1949) is a Christian artist, guitarist, writer and songwriter. He is the founder of Christian rock band Petra. Hartman was involved with the band from its foundation in 1972 to its end in 2005. He took ...

– lead guitars, additional programming, arrangements *

John Schlitt John William Schlitt (born February 3, 1950) is an American singer, who was the lead singer of the Christian rock band Petra (band), Petra from 1986 until the band's retirement in early 2006. Prior to joining Petra in 1986, Schlitt was the lead ...

– lead vocals, background vocals * John Lawry – keyboards, computer programming, background vocals *

Mark Kelly Mark Edward Kelly (born February 21, 1964) is an American politician, retired astronaut, and former United States Navy, naval officer serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States senator from Arizona, a seat he ha ...

– bass guitar, background vocals *

Louie Weaver Louie Adrian Weaver III (born July 13, 1951) is a drummer most famous for being a long-time member of Christian rock band Petra. Weaver is also a member of the church of the Nazarene. He was dismissed from the band in 2003; he is currently workin ...

– drums, additional programming Additional musicians *

John Elefante John Elefante (born March 18, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. From 1981-1984, he was lead vocalist of the rock group Kansas and is currently touring with several groups that have featured members from clas ...

– additional programming, background vocals, arrangements * Tim Heintz – additional programming * Dino Elefante – arrangements * Tom Hrbacek and Los Alamitos High School Marching Drummers – percussion on "This Means War" Production * John Elefante – producer,

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

, mixing at Pakaderm Studio,

Los Alamitos, California is a city in Orange County, California. The city was incorporated in March 1960. The population was 11,780 at the 2020 census, up from 11,449 at the 2010 census. The USA Water Polo National Aquatic Center is located on the Joint Forces Tr ...

* Dino Elefante – producer, engineer, mixing * Mike Mireau – engineer * Steve Hall – mastering at Future Disc, Los Angeles * Dave Rogers – art direction, design * Chris Hopkins – illustration

References

{{Authority control 1987 albums Petra (band) albums