Independent review

In the 1981, the first album of the English team “Praying Mantis” took 16 place in Britain, and high hopes were placed on the group as one of the leaders of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, which they, admittedly, successfully failed to live up to, immediately losing popularity and breaking up. As a result, the Troy brothers' collective returned to the stage in the 90, first having reminisced about metal, and later retraining into a solid melodic-rock and AOR group, not grabbing stars from the sky, but playing professional and excellently composed music of the declared styles. In the 2009, the team moved to the Frontiers label, as is appropriate for all modern melodists, and this year their 11 album was released. The last PM albums have always left an excellent aftertaste, so I approached listening to Gravity with enthusiasm, and it even exceeded my expectations. There is more melodic-hard here than AOR. The record sounds like a message from the 80s, but made at the highest modern level. I always especially respect such an approach. In styles not the most popular in the modern world, one needs to be able to compose, observe the canons of the genre, and record excellently; then relative success from those not indifferent to this direction is guaranteed. A surprising rarity, but there are no filler tracks. 1) Perfectly tailored, made according to all the canons, Keep It Alive sets the mood; 2) Mantis Anthem unites, reminding of the Uriah Heep 80s; 3) Time Can Heal is full of AOR goodness; 4) 39 Years picks up the baton of the opening track; 5) Gravity is expressive; 6) Ghosts of the Past possesses a stunning vocal part; 7) Destiny in Motion is a hit sounding like a complicated Survivor; 8) the magnificent melodicism of The Last Summer makes it the best thing on the album - had the group written it in the 80s with decent production, their story might have turned out differently; 9) in Foreign Affair, the spirit of Uriah Heep is strong again (John Cuijpers puts out 100% Lawton); 10) Shadow of Love in the spirit of Whitesnake does not spoil the picture; 11) And the multi-faceted closing track Final Destination is perfect in its role.

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