Praying Mantis are an English heavy metal band. Although a part of the

new wave of British heavy metal The new wave of British heavy metal (commonly abbreviated as NWOBHM) was a nationwide musical movement that started in England in the mid-1970s and achieved international attention by the early 1980s. Journalist Geoff Barton coined the term i ...

scene, they pursued a musical direction more melodic and AOR-sounding than their contemporaries.

Career

Their formation considerably pre-dated the NWOBHM movement. They were formed in 1973 while at college by the Troy brothers, Tino and Chris, Pete Moore and Chris Hudson. Like several NWOBHM bands they made their first available recording at a small 8- track studio in Penge, SE London. It was then handed to Neal Kay at his Heavy Metal Soundhouse later to be released as the ''Soundhouse Tapes'' EP on Ripper records in 1979. 1980 saw their profile considerably raised with support slots for

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

and

Ronnie Montrose Ronald Douglas Montrose (November 29, 1947 – March 3, 2012) was an American guitarist who founded and led the rock bands Montrose and Gamma. He also performed and did session work with a variety of musicians, including Van Morrison, Herbie H ...

Gamma Gamma (uppercase , lowercase ; ''gámma'') is the third letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 3. In Ancient Greek, the letter gamma represented a voiced velar stop . In Modern Greek, this letter re ...

and "Captured City" was included on the ''

Metal for Muthas ''Metal for Muthas'' is the name given to a series of heavy metal compilations made during the new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM). The original compilation was ''Metal for Muthas'', released in February 1980. The compilation was a sampl ...

'' compilation. The attention won them a recording contract with

Arista Records Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertainmen ...

and they released their highly regarded work ''Time Tells No Lies'' in 1981. Management instability undermined their success and Arista decided that they didn't wish to take up the option of a further album. The following year they signed for

Jet Records Jet Records was a British record label started by Don Arden in 1974, featuring musicians such as Lynsey de Paul, Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), Roy Wood, Gary Moore, Ozzy Osbourne, Alan Price, Adrian Gurvitz, Riot and Magnum. History Th ...

, but two subsequent singles didn't quite hit the mark and the band folded. During the making of Time Tells No Lies Praying Mantis recorded a version of the

Russ Ballard Russell Glyn Ballard (born 31 October 1945) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. Originally coming to prominence as the lead singer and guitarist for the band Argent, Ballard became a songwriter and producer by the late 1970s. His co ...

penned track " I Surrender", but ran into conflict with

Rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...

, who went on to release their own version, and had a Top 10 worldwide hit. Instead, Praying Mantis released "Cheated" which reached No.69 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in January 1981. The band maintained a strong fan base in Japan, and when the Troys temporarily reformed Praying Mantis for a NWOBHM nostalgia tour in 1990, they were encouraged by the response to resurrect the band full-time. Their live work was released as ''Live at Last'', and a follow-up studio album ''Predator in Disguise'' was released the following year, and the band soldiered on into the new century. A compilation album, ''The Best of Praying Mantis'', was released in 2004. Following further line-up changes, a new album, ''Sanctuary'', was released in the spring of 2009 and has gained worldwide media acclaim. In 2013, the band announced they are to release a new single in October that year. The single is to officially introduce new members, John Cuijpers (vocals) and Hans in't Zandt (drums) to the band's fanbase after playing Colchester, Ipswich (with support from MGR Records band Kaine) and Cambridge Rock Festival with the brand new line-up. A new album called Legacy was released on 21 August 2015.

Discography

Studio albums *''

Time Tells No Lies ''Time Tells No Lies'' is the debut album by British heavy metal band Praying Mantis. Release ''Time Tells No Lies'' was released in 1981 after the band signed a worldwide deal with Arista Records following the Reading Rock '80 festival. Some ...

'' ( Arista, 1981) – UK No. 16 *''Predator in Disguise'' (

Pony Canyon , also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese mass media publishing company founded on October 1, 1966. The company publishes mainly physical home media on compact discs, including music, films and TV shows and video games. It is affiliate ...

, 1991) *''A Cry for the New World'' (Pony Canyon, 1993) *''To the Power of Ten'' (Pony Canyon, 1995) *''Forever in Time'' (Pony Canyon, 1998) *''Nowhere to Hide'' (Pony Canyon, 2000) *''The Journey Goes On'' (Pony Canyon, 2003) *''Sanctuary'' (

Frontiers Frontiers may refer to: * Frontier, areas near or beyond a boundary Arts and entertainment Music * ''Frontiers'' (Journey album), 1983 * ''Frontiers'' (Jermaine Jackson album), 1978 * ''Frontiers'' (Jesse Cook album), 2007 * ''Frontiers'' ( ...

, 2009) *''Legacy'' (Frontiers, 2015) *''Gravity'' (Frontiers, 2018) *'' Katharsis'' (Frontiers, 2022) Live albums *''Live at Last'' (Pony Canyon, 1990) *''Captured Alive in Tokyo City'' (Pony Canyon, 1996) *''Keep It Alive!'' (Frontiers, 2019) Singles *''The Soundhouse Tapes Part 2'' ("Captured City" / "The Ripper" / "Johnny Cool") 12" (Ripper Records, 1979) *"Praying Mantis" / "High Roller" 7" (GEM, 1980) *"Cheated" / "Thirty Pieces of Silver" / "Flirting With Suicide" / "Panic in the Streets" 2x7" (Arista, 1981) - K No. 69/small> *" All Day and All of the Night" / "Beads of Ebony" 7" (Arista, 1981) *"Turn the Tables" / "Tell Me the Nightmare's Wrong" / "A Question of Time" 7" EP ( Jet, 1982) *"Only the Children Cry" / "Whose Life is it Anyway?" / "A Moment in Life" / "Turn the Tables" CD EP (Canyon International, 1993) *''Metalmorphosis'' CD EP (self-released, 2011) Compilations *''The Best of Praying Mantis'' (Pony Canyon, 2004)

Members

References

External links

* *
MusicMight bioInterview with Chris Troy (2009)Audio Interview with Praying Mantis from Hard Rock Hell Festival 2011
{{DEFAULTSORT:Praying Mantis Musical groups established in 1974 English hard rock musical groups English heavy metal musical groups Sibling musical groups Frontiers Records artists Arista Records artists Pony Canyon artists New Wave of British Heavy Metal musical groups Musical groups from London

Career

Discography

Members

See also

References

External links