British rockers PRAYING MANTIS have been going for decades, but it’s the last couple of decades that have been most productive and impressive recording-wise. Like fellow British legends Uriah Heep and Magnum, and Swedish rockers Europe it is the band’s string of later releases that make them worthy of checking out still, Mantis’ best stuff IMO. Since 2000’s Nowhere To Hide album (my introduction to PM) this band has released 5 other must-hear albums, and now Defiance is another Praying Mantis disc to dig into. Defiance continues on with that melodic hard rock sound that Praying Mantis has become known for, as opposed to the ‘heavy metal’ route that the band was tagged as in their early days. A solid 11 tracks here, including an excellent take of Russ Ballard’s “I Surrender.” lots of cool guitar rock here, with favorites coming near the end in “Standing Tall” and “Let’s See” (these 2 jumped out early on for me). Anyone who’s followed these guys in recent years will easily dig this, with well-produced melodic rock tunes like “From The Start”, “Give It Up”, “Defiance”, and the instrumental “Nightswim”.

Love the guitar sound, the occasional use of keyboards, and the band’s backing harmonies which are always a big part of the ‘Mantis sound. Jaycee Cuijpers vocals are strong, like this guy sounds great on everything (see Arjen Lucassen’s Sonic Revolution too!), and the band now has a string of albums with the same singer. As always awesome cover artwork (Stan-W Decker), making Defiance stand out upon first glance. Get it on CD or red vinyl!

LINKS:

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https://www.instagram.com/mantisofficial/
https://twitter.com/troymantis