Praying Mantis are an English New Wave Of British Heavy Metal band. Though very much a part of the NWOBHM scene, they pursued a musical
direction more melodic and AOR-sounding than their contemporaries.
Their formation considerably pre-dates the NWOBHM. They were formed in 1974 by the Troy brothers, both college students. Like several
NWOBHM bands they made their first available recording at Neal Kay's Soundhouse recording studio which was released as the SOUNDHOUSE
TAPES EP IN 1979. 1980 saw their profile considerably raised with support slots for Iron Maiden and Ronnie Montrose's G ...read more
Praying Mantis are an English New Wave Of British Heavy Metal band. Though very much a part of the NWOBHM scene, they pursued a musical
direction more melodic and AOR-sounding than their contemporaries.
Their formation considerably pre-dates the NWOBHM. They were formed in 1974 by the Troy brothers, both college students. Like several
NWOBHM bands they made their first available recording at Neal Kay's Soundhouse recording studio which was released as the SOUNDHOUSE
TAPES EP IN 1979. 1980 saw their profile considerably raised with support slots for Iron Maiden and Ronnie Montrose's Gamma.
The attention won them a contract with Arista Records and they released their best-known work Time Tells No Lies in 1981. Unfortunately
management and lineup instability greatly undermined their success and Arista dropped them. The following year they signed for Jet Records
but two subsequent singles flopped and the band folded. The band had originally recorded a version of the Russ Ballard penned track I
Surrender but ran into conflict with Rainbow who went on to release their version and had a Top Ten worldwide hit. In its place they recorded
the single « hide