Going back even further than my Dio special, this was a series I began the very year I returned to Music Banter (2011), in which I began looking at the singular phenomenon of the rejuvenation of heavy metal that took place in the late seventies and early eighties in the UK, which became known as the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, or NWOBHM.
Although the phrase “heavy metal” has been around for a very long time, and its first usage in reference to music goes back to Steppenwolf's 1968 classic “Born to be Wild”, the first heavy metal bands rarely referred to themselves as such, preferring the term “hard rock” or even “heavy rock”. It wasn't really until the end of the 1970s that the term began to get more common usage, and started to become linked with certain types of rock bands.
During the late 60s and 70s, the heavy metal scene, such as it was, was pretty much dominated by “the big three”: Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple, who would later split to become Rainbow. Yeah, Zep were never heavy metal, but their music certainly influenced a whole slew of later bands who would be big in the genre, besides, "the big two" just doesn't have the same ring to it! You also had the likes of of course Hendrix, Blue Oyster Cult, Cream, Kiss and some others, but in general few if any of these bands considered themselves heavy metal**. Long established, they ruled the roost and there was little room for newcomers, with the heavy rock/metal scene growing increasingly jaded as these bands, by now seen by some as dinosaurs, lumbering behemoths out of step with the changing trends in modern music, churned out album after album and filled stadiums and sports arenas, becoming, in the eyes of some, further and further removed from their fans, increasingly disconnected from what was happening at grassroots level.
What
was happening, was happening in the UK, mostly in London, at a small nightclub called “The Soundhouse”, where aspiring bands were taking the stage every night and beginning to make a name for themselves. Tired of the by now overblown and in some cases pompous albums being released by the old masters, the new young guns were trying it themselves, and finding not only that they liked it, but that others did too.
The New Wave of British Heavy Metal had been born.
This revolution in rock music would create, in the same way punk had a few years previous, some great bands, some okay bands and some truly awful bands, but it would shake up the heavy metal/heavy rock scene in a way it had never experienced before, and lead to a renaissance of the genre. As in any revolution, there were winners and there were losers; some bands thrived and grew in popularity, and indeed a few became nationally and then internationally famous, and are still around today. Others were not so lucky. They either had their day, enjoyed it while they could and then disbanded, either to go on to new things or to return to their day jobs, or in some cases just failed utterly to get off the ground.
In this series, I will be taking a look at some of the major, and minor, movers in this unprecedented turnaround in the fortunes of heavy metal and rock in general. I'm going to try to concentrate on three bands per segment, and the whole series I hope to run to ten parts in all. So crank up your air guitar, turn your amp to ten, and let's get rockin'! Or something...
Note: Though they are without question the biggest and most successful of the bands to come up through the NWOBHM, I will NOT be featuring Iron Maiden here. I've given them plentiful coverage over the last decade, and anything you don't know about them and need to know can be accessed through any of my threads on them or reviews of their albums. I'd only be repeating myself, and besides, if you don't know Iron Maiden you have no right to call yourself a metalhead.
Part the First, in which a band has many deaths and rebirths, another goes all American and a third is cruelly cut down before it has a chance at life...
The first band I want to concentrate on, in this first part of the series, is in fact the oldest of the NWOBHM bands, actually predating the movement by a number of years. Praying Mantis were formed in 1974 by two brothers, Chris and Tino Troy, but it wasn't until new metal began to be taken seriously, with the onset of the NWOBHM, that the brothers were able to get their music recorded, and their profile began to prosper.
Carried along on the wave of enthusiasm and euphoria engendered by the NWOBHM, Praying Mantis, fleshed out by Andy Burgess (guitars), Benjy Reid (drums) and Mike Freeland (vocals) went on to support the band who would become the stars of the movement, and the biggest heavy metal band in the world, even today: Iron Maiden. This raised their profile considerably, and also won them their first recording contract with the Arista label, on which they put out their debut - and acknowledged as their best - album,
Time Tells No Lies.
Although Mantis have released, up to this year*, a total of eight albums, with a thirty-year-anniversary retrospective out this year*, I'm constrained to review only two of their recordings here. There's just too much to get through to spend too much time on one band, and I do have to take the odd breath you know!
So hopefully I'll be able to give you a flavour and overall impression of a band I personally know nothing about in this short and restricted review. Of course, if your interest is piqued in this, or any of the other bands I'll be tackling, you're perfectly free to go get their other albums and listen to your heart's content. But brevity is not a thing that comes easily to me, so I'm doing my best not to overextend the articles here. Hey, I can try!
Time Tells No Lies - Praying Mantis - 1981 (Arista)
The album opens up with “Cheated”, a track I feel reflects the style of recently-reviewed Stampede (although since their album didn't come out until two years later, I should say Stampede use influences from Praying Mantis!), and with some nice Thin Lizzyesque touches in the guitar work. For a debut it's very polished, really more in the AOR camp than heavy metal, with a very Yes or Asia-like sleeve created by Rodney Matthews, whose art was very popular at that time, particularly among metal and prog acts.
Next up is a cover version of the Kinks' classic “All Day and All of the Night”. Gets things rocking all right, but I've never been a fan of this song. Still, they do a good heavy version of it. “Running for Tomorrow” returns to the AOR influences with a hefty slice of Yes-style prog rock in there too, while “Rich City Kids” goes right back to rock basics, and must have engendered much headbanging when played on stage!
Things get serious though with the arrival of “Lovers to the Grave”, and it's a whole new ball game! A tense, powerful ballad, the song reeks of Gilmour-style guitars and Waters vocals, so much so that you might (might!) be tempted to believe it WAS a Pink Floyd song. Very mature, very technically perfect, a true
tour-de-force, and you suddenly realise this band has arrived! And then, in true Southern Rock fashion, the song speeds up as Tino shows just what he can do on guitar - oh yes, this is a band who were destined to go big places and last a long time.
The song does, however, quite disappointingly end abruptly, and we're into “Panic in the Streets”, a straight-ahead rocker, little tinges of nascent punk leaking in. Some great guitar solos on this album! Also a lot of exclamation marks in this review: sorry, that's just how I am... “Beads of Ebony” starts off heavy, but soon becomes a very tuneful slice of AOR. One thing these guys have got right from the start is vocal harmonies: they're pitch perfect. “Flirting with Suicide” is another fast rocker, again recalling Stampede (sorry, other way round!) and the rocking continues unabated for “Children of the Earth”, an early eco-song from a metal band! Absolutely love the harmonies these guys put out! This song speeds up and slows down like a forgetful pensioner behind the wheel...
“Thirty Pieces of Silver” is another great rocker with a heart and a deep message, and the album ends with two live versions, “Flirting with Suicide” and “Panic in the Streets”. I probably could have lived without their inclusion, but then this is a debut album, and with the addition of these two tracks you get twelve altogether, so good value for the hard-pressed and often poor metal fan at the time! Also good value for collectors of exclamation marks: nine in all! Ten, with that one...
As a debut, I have to say this stands head and shoulders above anything I've heard from this era. Even Iron Maiden's debut, good though it was, was a lot less polished and varied in styles than
Time Tells No Lies. A great start, without question.
TRACK LISTING
1. Cheated
2. All Day and All of the Night
3. Running for Tomorrow
4. Rich City Kids
5. Lovers to the Grave
6. Panic in the Streets
7. Beads of Ebony
8. Flirting with Suicide
9. Children of the Earth
10. Thirty Pieces of Silver
11. Flirting with Suicide (live)
12. Panic in the Streets (live)
As far as output during the era of the NWOBHM goes, that's it for Praying Mantis. They almost achieved glory in 1980, when they intended to cover Russ Ballard's “I Surrender”, but unfortunately Rainbow had the same idea, and with their clout and muscle Blackmore's gang were able to have their way, releasing the single which charted and made them a household name. Mantis were left to lick their wounds, and dream of what might have been. Although they did release an EP - under, for some reason, the name Stratus - in 1984 entitled
Throwing Shapes, they broke up soon after and only reformed in 1990 on the back of renewed interest in an anniversary album of NWOBHM artists, and their constant and loyal following they had built up in, of all places, Japan. This led to the release of what was technically then their second album, 1991's
Predator in Disguise.
Predator in Disguise - Praying Mantis - 1991 (Under One Flag)
Information from hereon in is hard to get and sketchy when it is available, even from the Mantis' own website, but it would appear that Dennis Stratton, best known before this for his guitar work on Maiden's debut self-titled album, came back to the band, having been with them before they recorded the debut but left prior to that happening. There's a mention also of one Steve Carroll having left, but I can't see where he fits in. Wikipedia can only take you so far...
Anyway, this is as I say their second album, and the sound is a lot different to the debut, with more of an emphasis on keys and less on the powerful and evocative guitar solos of Tino Troy. In many ways, Praying Mantis seem to be moving even closer to the AOR likes of Asia and Kansas, and away from other, “harder” NWOBHM bands like Raven, Fist and Iron Maiden.
The album kicks off with “Can't See the Angels”, which is really quite Americanised, more in the vein of bands like Journey and REO, but a good track, well written and very tightly played. It certainly carries on their fascination with American forms, and it's very commercial. The hilariously embarrassing “She's Hot” is pure Kiss, possibly picked up during Stratton's time supporting them on tour with Iron Maiden. You can hear the difference his vocals make on this album. I preferred Troy's, personally - Stratton just sounds too West Coast, even though he is English.
“Can't Wait Forever” lifts the album in the same way “Lovers to the Grave” did on the debut: a powerful, crunching, emotional puncher that just stands apart from the rest of the album, so far. I am amazed that “This Time Girl” didn't break them worldwide, as it's a fantastic slice of stadium rock, totally airplay-worthy, the guys channeling Journey at their most radio-friendly. I wonder, in fact, if the idea
was to target America, as the sleeve does feature Lady Liberty herself? Guess it didn't work, but hey, the Japanese loved them!
“Time Slipping Away” is a faster rocker, more metal than previous tracks, but I still would put Praying Mantis firmly in the AOR/soft rock side of things. Okay, they don't have any annoyingly sugary ballads (yet!), but their music does seem like it would appeal more to fans of Styx, Journey, Asia or Boston than Metallica, Maiden or Motorhead. The overuse of keyboards probably contributes a lot to this, but it's no criticism of them: there were some
very dodgy bands came out of the NWOBHM, and it's clear that Tino Troy can still rip off a hell of a guitar solo, as he does here. And what was that I said about ballads? Here comes one now, though in fairness “Listen to What Your Heart Says” retains the soul of a rock song - no digital piano or saxophone solos here, and not a choir in sight. Sounds a little Gary Moore, to me, specially the solo. No higher praise...
The AOR style continues for “Still Want You”, with some really good keyboard arpeggios, then “The horn” is the closest Praying Mantis come to out-and-out heavy metal; an instrumental, very reminiscent of Iron Maiden indeed, leading into “Battle Royal”, an odd title for what turns out to be a power ballad, and they manage to squeeze a lot into a song that runs for less than four minutes. Another great guitar solo, and why was this song not on the radio, twenty-four hours a day?
Penultimate track “Only You” is a rollicking rocker which puts me in mind of Bon Jovi circa
Keep the Faith (sorry for all the comparisons, but Mantis' music does invite them), and the album closes on “Borderline”, probably one of the weaker tracks unfortunately, with the vocals fuzzy and down in the mix, don't ask me why. An album that started so well ends as a bit of a damp squib.
TRACK LISTING
1. Can't See the Angels
2. She's Hot
3. Can't Wait Forever
4. This Time Girl
5. Time Slipping Away
6. Listen to What Your Heart Says
7. Still Want You
8. The Horn
9. Battle Royal
10. Only You
11. Borderline
I don't know if Praying Mantis ever lost that very American feel to their music. If they didn't, I'm sure it was no detriment to them, as the Japanese love that kind of American rock. So hopefully they're doing okay, and as they are, as previously mentioned, releasing a new album this year* (well, an anniversary compilation) they are obviously still alive and kicking. As our first peek into the often dark and shady world of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, they're certainly not the heaviest nor the roughest, but as Rik Mayall once gleefully stated, “They could bash out a tune or two!”
* at the time of writing
** Yeah I'm sure Zep never considered themselves metal either, but **** 'em 