Praying Mantis's Discography

Here's a review from On The Rocks

PRAYING MANTIS
The Journey Goes On
(Frontiers Rec.)

Genre:
Melodic Rock

Recommended:

"The Escape": In my opinion, the strongest of the new songs! After a balladesque opening this Doogie White-sung track turns into a thrillingly arranged mid-tempo rocker that could have appeared easily on CORNERSTONE's "Human Stain" album.

"If Tomorrow Never Comes": A moody ballad sung by guitarist Chris Troy, who does a really good job. The song opens with Spanish guitars, atmospheric keyboards and crying e-guitar leads before, one by one, the lead vocals and the other instruments set in and erupt in a mighty chorus.

"Lost World": "Lost World" is a slow paced and slightly progressive Melodic Rock track with Doogie White on vocals. The song goes through a couple of arranged tempo changes, but never loses the thread. The absolute highlight is the instrumental final act which features one of the most thrilling guitar duels I have heard in a long time!

"The Voice": The best song with John Sloman on vocals. Carried by surprisingly dominant and pompous keyboards, this highly melodic up-tempo track delivers one of the most memorable choruses on the album.

"Naked": A remake of a "Nowhere To Hide" song. "Naked" is a upbeat, 8 minutes

+ long epic in the classic PRAYING MANTIS style with melodic guitar leads, spheric keyboards and strong lead and background vocals. Due to Doogie White’s unique lead vocals, the new version sounds audibly different from the original.

Summary:

With this follow-up PRAYING MANTIS album, I was very sceptical that the British Melodic Rock veterans would not be able to survive after the split from lead singer Tony O'Hora. His majestic lead and background vocals played a very decisive role in the quality of the band's latest masterpieces "Forever In Time" and "Nowhere To Hide". With former URIAH HEEP frontman John Sloman and CORNERSTONE vocalist Doogie White, the band has hired two very experienced new lead singers, but for some strange reason the new PRAYING MANTIS line-up can't fill the gap Tony O'Hora left. The new singers do a good job, but the vocal melodies and the background vocals on "The Journey Goes On" don't have the power, dynamic and intensity as on "Forever In Time" and "Nowhere To Hide". But that's not the only reason why the new record is not seen as strong as its predecessors. The problems also lie within the slightly powerless sounding production and the arrangements/songwriting. Most of the ten songs on "The Journey Goes On" move in the mid-tempo fields and could need a bit more variety and tempo. After so much negative feedback I have to state clearly that I still think "The Journey Goes On" is a good Melodic Rock album! It's just not as outstanding as "Forever In Time" and "Nowhere To Hide" and needs a couple of listens to grow on you. Nevertheless, the fans with a weakness for CORNERSTONE and ASIA will surely appreciate it. I really stand behind the rating of 83 % for this album, but I hoped and expected to award it with a higher rating.

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