PRAYING MANTIS – Time Tells No Lies [Rock Candy] (2012)

thanx to Carl

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Formed by brothers Tino and Chris Troy, PRAYING MANTIS developed a reputation for delivering thinking man’s metal.

Indeed, they had the musical chops to rival and, at times, outshine the competition by utilising twin lead guitar, ambitious arrangements and multilayered harmonies; their songs were melodic yet intricately arranged and packed a powerful punch.

“Time Tells No Lies”, produced by Time Friese Green (Touch), engineered by Mike Shipley (Def Leppard) and housed in a stunning Rodney Matthews designed sleeve, was originally issued in 1980, and attracted highbrow praise positioning them as a band to definitely watch out for.

Sure, in the end they didn’t quite reach the peak of popularity attained by Maiden or Leppard, but their presence on the scene was not without significance and “Time Tells No Lies” remains a gleaming testament to their talent.

“Cheated” is a hard rocker that opens the album with a bang while “All Day and All of the Night,” a remake of the Kinks classic, keeps the energy going.

The more progressive songs ala “Running for Tomorrow” and “Lovers to the Grave” show what made this band special.

Rock Candy records is releasing the album for the first time officially on CD in Europe with their usual 24-bit remastering from original source tapes, five bonus tracks, 3,500 word essay about the making of the album, band involvement and additional photos spread out over a 16 page full colour booklet.

It’s great to see this much ignored tome (way ahead of their time) by Praying Mantis get to bask in the limelight once again, in my opinion, one of the precursor bands of the Melodic Hard Rock genre.

01 – Cheated

02 – All Day And All Of The Night

03 – Running For Tomorrow

04 – Rich City Kids

05 – Lovers To The Grave

06 – Panic In The Streets

07 – Beads Of Ebony

08 – Flirting With Suicide

09 – Children Of The Earth

10 – Praying Mantis (bonus track)

11 – High Roller (bonus track)

12 – Thirty Pieces Of Silver (bonus track)

13 – Flirting With Suicide [Live] (bonus track)

14 – Panic In The Streets [Live] (bonus track)

Tino Troy – guitar, vocals

Steve Carroll – guitar, vocals

Chris Troy – bass, vocals

Dave Potts – drums

BUY IT !

www.amazon.co.uk/Time-Tells-Lies-Praying-Mantis/dp/B006UJJ91Q