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Album Details
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· Produced By:Tino Troy
· Running Time: 59.34
· Release Date: April 29
· Released: EU
· Genre: Hard Rock
· LabelLink: Frontiers
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Artist Bio
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Praying Mantis started back in 1977 when
Spanish-Greek brothers Tino and Chris Troy,
founded the band and recorded a demo which
received great acclaim in the heavy metal scene
in the UK. The famous DJ Neal Kay often played
their songs and thanks to his support, three of
the demo tracks were finally published in 1979
as a maxi-single entitled "The Soundhouse
Tapes". Another demo song was later included
in the "Metal For Muthas" compilation, the same
one which launched Iron Maiden to the
stardom!
Praying Mantis were therefore able to support
the first Iron Maiden UK tour and later went on
to record their debut album with Dave Potts (ex
Ten Years After) on drums and Steve Carroll on
guitars and vocals. The resulting album "Time
Tells No Lies" is still considered as one of the
best expressions of the New Wave Of British
Heavy Metal phenomenon, even though it did
not have much commercial fortune.
The band decided then to add a new singer (ex
Grand Prix and later Uriah Heep, Bernie Shaw)
and a keyboard player in order to give more
depth to their sound. With this line up, Praying
Mantis recorded a single "Turn The Tables" and
again appeared on the bill of the Reading
Festival.
A new line-up change (ex Iron Maiden drummer
Clive Burr entered the band) brought later also a name change: as STRATUS, the band toured the UK
and released the album "Throwing Shapes" in 1985. In
1990 Praying Mantis finally reformed with a new line-up
featuring two further ex-Iron Maiden cohorts: Paul
Di'Anno (on vocals) and Dennis Stratton (on guitar),
with Bruce Bisland on drums, thanks to the interest of
some Japanese promoters. They also released a live
album ("Live At Last") in 1990 recorded during that
tour. The success gained in the Eastern lands, convinced
the band about the possibility of a permanent reunion
and with a renewed line-up (the band featured in this
time ex MSG singer Gary Barden, then Mark Thompson-
Smith and later Tony O’Hora on vocals) they released
four studio and one live album.
In the year 2000 Praying Mantis recorded their best
studio album ever, “Nowhere To Hide” which landed
them to a European-wide multi album deal with
Frontiers Records. The excellent critical response,
followed by an acclaimed performance at the Gods
festival in November 2000 created the biggest success
ever in the band’s recent history.
The year 2003 finally sees the band coming back with a
brand new studio cd entitled: “The Journey Goes On”.
The line-up on the album includes as permanent
members brothers Chris Troy (on bass, lead and
background vocals and keyboards), Dennis Stratton (ex
Iron Maiden on guitars, lead and background vocals),
Tino Troy (on guitars, lead and background vocals and
keyboards) with special guests John Sloman (ex Lone
Star, Gary Moore) and Dougie White (ex Rainbow,
Malmsteen) on vocals and Martin Johnson on drums.
“The album sounds definitely more melodic than
before”, says Chris Troy, “we really think this could be
our most successful release ever! We have also gained a
lot with our decision to use different singers as we have
added more variety and depth to the songwriting”.
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