772. Praying Mantis / Time Tells No Lies. 1981. 3/5

The explosion of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal between 1979 and 1981 provided a number of bands a great deal of publicity in the music media, and saw record companies looking to sign up new bands with the hope that they would become the ‘next big thing’ and provide those labels with the riches that they were hoping to reap as a result. One of the interesting things about looking back on that time in music from this far in the future is not just the bands that became the huge groups of that era as a result of their talent, but the number of bands that were considered to be their equal or even better at the time who were unable to make that great leap. It really is amazing that of all of the bands spoken of during that three year period, that only a small handful went on to make a mega career, while others disappeared forever. Some have been able to find a way to maintain a career to the present day, and have actually created a solid music catalogue away from the major spotlight that they may have begun with. It is arguable to say that Praying Mantis is one of those bands.
The band was formed very early on for one that made its break during that time period. It was 1973 when college friends Pete Moore, Chris Hudson and brothers Tino and Chris Troy, came together to create their band. They operated under a couple of different names including Prowler and Junction, before settling on the name Praying Mantis. In those early years, the band would play in youth clubs and small gigs, eventually graduating to pub gigs by 1978. Around this time the band recorded a demo tape, which (like many other bands of the time) they were encouraged to take to Neal Kay who was the DJ at the Bandwagon at the time, and had become an influential figure when it came to the promotion of up and coming metal bands. This gave the band a platform on which to increase their exposure. On October 31 of 1979 they recorded for the popular Friday Rock Show on BBC Radio, which was broadcast the following week and included the tracks “Captured City”, “Loves to the Grave” and “Johnny Cool”. Following this, they recorded the song “Captured City” for the compilation album “Metal for Muthas” which was released in February of 1980, and an album that was reviewed on this podcast on Episode 10.
From here, the band toured as support to Iron Maiden and Ronnie Montrose’s Gamma, which also led to playing at the Reading Festival on August 23, 1980. By this time Steve Carroll had joined the band as guitarist and co-vocalist, and Dave Potts had come in on drums. The increasing exposure, along with the success of the Reading gig, led to the band being offered a recording contract from Arista Records to produce their debut album. The album was written and recorded but still came with a couple of delays in actually being released. One of these was the decision for the band to record a single by the name of “I Surrender”, written by renown hitmaker Russ Ballard, and originally released in October 1980 by a band called Head East. Praying Mantis had already recorded the backing track and were adding the vocals when they were told permission had been denied at the last minute, as another bigger band had decided that they were going to record their own version of the song. That band was Rainbow, and their version made it to #3 on the UK charts. Soooooo close!
The album though finally saw the light of day, and was released upon the world in the hope that they would be the next band from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal to break it big on the world stage, with the name of “Time Tells No Lies”.

From the very opening of the album, the sound that fills your senses is immediately picked to be from the era that it was recorded and released. It has that sound from the outset. The opening song "Cheated" tingles like a Thin Lizzy or Gary Moore tune of the era, but the harmony vocals in the chorus do give it its own little corner to move into. One of the band’s attacking points on this debut album is the moving around of the lead singer role. Guitarists Tino Troy and Steve Carroll and bass guitarist Chris Trot all share the role on the album, something that changes the focus of each track depending on who has the main singing role on it. On this opening song it is Carroll who takes the lead. It comes across as a commercially friendly single, in the style of many other bands of a similar ilk at the time – think Paul Di’Anno’s first self-titled album after leaving Iron Maiden, later Angel Witch and Sweet Savage. All seem to share a common history. This was, having had their initial choice of a single taken from them, the first single from the album, one released a couple of months before the album’s release. This is followed up by a cover of The Kinks' "All Day and All of the Night", an interesting choice to put on the album, and one that became the second single released. This version is sung by Tino and is enjoyable enough, highlighted by the twin guitar solos in the middle of the song. It this era you can understand the idea of covering a song that had been popular in different decades, and while it fits within the role of the album, perhaps giving it a bit more hard guitar would have freshened it up.
"Running For Tomorrow" is credited to all four members with Carroll back on lead vocals. Given the connection to the band as already reported here, this actually gives off vibes of 1980’s Rainbow in the song style, one that tries to sound like a hard rock and heavy song but with the obvious flourishes within the verses and vocals of reaching for that commercial sound. Once again the guitar slot in the middle of the track is very enjoyable, and offers a vision of the band reaching the heights of that new wave of metal, but through the verses and chorus it dials things back. Then you have “Rich City Kids”, composed by the Troy brothers and sung by Tino. This song could very easily have been taken straight off Def Leppard’s debut album of the previous year. Musically it is bang on from the style they utilised on that album, apart from the use of the piano incorporated into this track. Even Tino’s vocals backed by his brother sound very Joe Elliott-ish. Apart from that glaring similarity, this is one of the better songs on the album, and again the guitar work in the solo slot of the middle of the song is really enjoyable.
“Lovers to the Grave” changes up everything. This is the band’s shot at the soft rock ballad, with clear guitars and harmony vocals, this time with the lead taken on by Chris Troy. And I guess if you are looking for the direction of finding a commercial breakthrough then this is the kind of song your record company will probably push for. But you know the drill. The first half of the song is the usual generic stuff... and then you get into the second half of the song. The guitar solo breaks the track out of the doldrums, the tempo picks up, and we actually get one of the heaviest parts of the entire album as the guitars riff away madly, the bass line switches up and down the fret board, and it plays out the first side of the album in terrific style. It is a surprising song even to today. It is a remarkably transformative track here.
"Panic in the Streets" is a faster and heavier song to open up the second side of the album, dominated by faster drum work and guitar riffs, while Tino's vocals and the excellent twin guitar breaks from he and Steve Carroll drive it along in a way that is much more fitting of the new heavy era of the release. There is no sign of compromise to commerciality on this song, it is of the basic heavy sound of the time. It has an easy singalong chorus that brings about crowd participation as you listen. It’s a great way to break into the second side of the album. This is followed up by the multi faceted “Beads of Ebony”. The opening of the song leads you in to a belief that this is going to be a heavy track that breaks out of the tough sounding opening lyrical burst and undertoned riff – but it then weeds out a bit with a reedy sounding chorus from Chris on lead vocal that doesn’t befit exactly what it felt the song needed. It turns out to be a bit plain and not as strong as it could have been, especially after the previous track. It feels trapped between wanting to be a heavy track and a progressive think piece. So to with the following song "Flirting With Suicide" which kicks off with a great guitar riff, and should be a terrific heavy song. And for the most part it is. Tino is back on lead vocals, and it all sounds fine. Until we reach the chorus. What should have been a tough sounding chorus with a harder riff is softened out, beseeched by another less than ideal harmony vocal that just doesn’t quite fit how you expect that the song SHOULD go. The verses sound great, the solo slots are good, the bass line from Chris throughout is excellent and Tino offers the right toughness vocal in those verses. It’s just that damn chorus harmony that does not work.
As may have become apparent by this time, the one weakness of this album comes in the vocals. All three of Tino Troy (four songs), Chris Troy (three songs) and Steve Carroll (two songs) share the lead vocal duties, while they also all share the harmonies in the chorus lines. So not only do you have three different styles of vocals taking the lead on the album, you have those melodies in practically every song, which really don't change in pitch or tune from song to song. And it is the choruses that tend to take away from the greater excellence of the remainder of the song. In MOST cases. They appear to be there just to show they can do it, rather than adding to the songs. Most of the songs here would benefit from the chorus staying with Tino's tougher vocal being performed on its own, making the track harder and heavier and just BETTER than it ends up being because the lightweight harmony vocals come through instead.
Take "Children of the Earth" as an example, the closing track on the album. The song again starts off with a cracking riff and awesome bass line, and the initial vocals from Chris in this instance are good. But before you know it, it seems to transform into coming across as quite moaning, especially during the shared chorus vocals. This song should stand as up with the equal or better than the songs being produced by the bands of this same era. The solo guitar slot that takes out the song is sensational. Take a listen to it. Tell me there isn’t a bit of future Metallica in parts of that solo. It’s there. The start of this track and its conclusion are just brilliant, hugely enjoyable. Unfortunately, the middle of the track brings it back in any estimation. That conclusion though, where the song transforms, and it becomes something a little bit special. This is where the true potential of the band comes to life and shows what they really had to offer.

I cannot tell you how long I spent seeking a copy of this album over the years. When it comes to finding anything in Australia in regard to bands of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, it can be very difficult. It was a quest that didn’t end well initially. I just eventually gave up, and let the dream die. It wasn’t until many years later, about fifteen years ago now as I record this episode, that I began to once again seek out the bands and albums of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal era, this time utilising file sharing and YouTube and all the new fangled ways you could search for rare material. And this was how I first came across “Time Tells No Lies” and was able to finally discover just what the debut and only true Praying Mantis album of that era was like. And like all of the other bands I was discovering albums of that time during this period, I found that I really enjoyed it. Angel Witch, Sweet Savage, Blitzkrieg, Diamond Head... each had a unique sound that I enjoyed. Yes, some of the vocals on ALL of those albums took some time to get used to, but once I did I was in for the ride. And that 12 month period where I discovered so much music that I had always wanted to experience was a terrific time for me.
So we come to this past week or so, and let’s talk about where I am today as I place it once again in the CD player of my stereo in the Metal Cavern. Because as always it is one thing to listen to an album and like or love it for what it is on the surface, but it is when you go into it in a critical review situation that you can often find either flaws that you have tried not to notice, or find amazing things that you probably knew but were not quite as aware of as you should have been. In this past couple of weeks, I have probably come across both of those things.
I have already spoken about the vocals here, and the way they get a bit reedy when it comes to the harmony or melodic attempts, mainly within choruses. I don’t really want to be critical of this, because we all know singing can be hard. Two things came to me on my relistening’s for this episode. One is that no matter what I may think if I am to criticise this, that when I listen to the album it only bothers me... a little. The second is this. When the band reformed in 1990, they employed a succession of extremely good vocalists to come in and act as leader singer for the band, those being Paul Di’Anno, Doogie White and Gary Barden, as well as Dennis Stratton who was guitarist and vocalist for a decade. And my thoughts were – I wonder how these songs sound with any of these quite excellent vocalists taking the lead? I’d like to find out.
But the music, and perhaps more especially the guitaring... it has amazing moments on this album. The play out of both sides of the album on the songs “Lovers to the Grave” and “Children of the Earth” is just brilliant, so enjoyable to listen to. I mentioned here that the album is slightly caught between wanting to push in a commercial direction and wanting to be a real metal album, and maybe that is what makes it one that got lost in the mix at the time. If they had pushed the heavy tones here more, closer to an Iron Maiden direction, would that have been more successful? I don’t know. Also, did they miss a trick not including “Captured City” on this album? Sure it had been published on the “Metal for Muthas” album, but would that have pushed the album more with fans who already knew that song? Would that have mattered anyway? More questions I don’t have the answers for.
The final answer for me on this album is that I still really like it, despite my protestations on parts of the album. Listening again this week does reinforce to me that the flaws it has make it an album that was a missed opportunity, and that perhaps re-recording it in the modern day, with a modern sound and fixing those few little bits would be amazing to hear. I still believe that if I had had this album when I first began to listen to heavy metal back in high school that I would rate this album up there with my favourites, just because discovering it then rather than 20 years later would have given it a different pair of ears to listen to it by.
The band, like so many others of this vintage in the era of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, fell foul of poor management and lack of record label support, and eventually went into remission for almost a decade. Since their reformation in 1990, they have consistently toured and released albums, so the story has ended on a better note than some or many of their contemporaries. This debut album still stands as a testament to the age and the movement, and is more than worthy of your attention.