Praying Mantis do not need any particular introductions for those who have a good contact with the metal/hard of rock 80s. They emerged and were connected to the historical henceforth musical movement of New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, which brought to the spotlight bands like Iron Maiden (note that three former members of Maiden passed also from the orders of Praying Mantis, meaning Paul Di Anno,  Dennis Stratton and Clive Burr), Saxon, Def Leppard and others. Due to various circumstances, they never accomplished to reach the size of success of the previous bands but this does not mean they lack musical value. Of course, what always made them distinguish from the mass of similar groups in my ears, is their astonishing talent in the composition of melodies, colorful and expressive, that gave a certain character to their compositions. Precisely, this sense of melody made them come and go from heavy metal to hard rock very easily culminating in their last effort, “Sanctuary”, which brings them closer to melodic rock than ever.

In their new cd they record for the first time with their new singer Mike Freeland, who pushes the band forward and fills with new energy the whole record. His voice suits the songs very well, he also interprets them with passion and a great will to stand out and be heard. In the production we find Andy Reilly who has worked with great names, such as Bruce Dickinson, Fm, Asia etc, and now, with Praying Mantis, he helped in the creation of a very clean sound that is essential for their songs. The compositions are led by the melodic guitar lines, along with well-aimed keys and they are mainly mid tempo, with an intense hard rock groove in many of them…The most characteristic moments of the cd are “In Time”, “So High”, the bluesy “Tears In The Rain” and the “Sanctuary”. 

For the faithful fans of melodic rock/metal, Praying Mantis’s “Sanctuary” is a guaranteed option. Without any doubt, they deserve our attention because in the year 2009 they are still here, they have something that’s worth to be heard and show us that they are trying successfully to offer good music and not eye-wash you!