Praying Mantis (band)

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Praying Mantis are an English rock band. Though very much a part of the NWOBHM scene, they pursued a musical direction more melodic and AOR-sounding than their contemporaries.

Their formation considerably pre-dates the NWOBHM. They were formed in 1974 by the Troy brothers, both college students. Like several NWOBHM bands they made their first available recording at Neal Kay's Soundhouse recording studio which was released as the Soundhouse Tapes EP in 1979. 1980 saw their profile considerably raised with support slots for Iron Maiden and Ronnie Montrose's Gamma.

The attention won them a contract with Arista Records and they released their best-known work Time Tells No Lies in 1981. Unfortunately management and lineup instability greatly undermined their success and Arista dropped them. The following year they signed for Jet Records but two subsequent singles flopped and the band folded. The band had originally recorded a version of the Russ Ballard penned track I Surrender but ran into conflict with Rainbow who went on to release their version and had a Top Ten worldwide hit. In its place they recorded the single "Cheated".

The band maintained a strong fanbase in Japan, and when the Troys temporarily reformed Praying Mantis for an NWOBHM nostalgia tour in 1990 they were sufficiently encouraged by the response to resurrect the band full-time. Their live work was released as Live At Last and a follow-up studio album Predator In Disguise was released the following year, and the band soldiered on into the new century. A compilation, The Best Of Praying Mantis, was released in 2004.