Unknown Soldier

Album
The arrival of the NWOBHM really should’ve revitalised or at least guaranteed the continuing fortunes of the bands that had helped to inspire it, but by and large the likes of bands like Uriah Heep, Budgie, Thin Lizzy and UFO largely failed on a creative level to achieve that goal. Budgie for example were just contented to dish out clichéd hard rock on albums such as Power Supply (which I actually quite like but recognize it’s far from a good album) Whereas on the other hand a band like UFO minus Michael Schenker, now decided to delve into a more mid-tempo Bad Company type territory albeit with greater variety. The problem was that this middle-of-the-road hard rock material really didn’t fit the current metal scene and was dangerously exposed when the straight-up heavy numbers weren’t upto scratch either. This approach by the band had all been brutally exposed on their eighth album No Place to Run in 1980, which despite having quality material and some good tracks like the excellent “Lettin’ Go” all just seemed to lack the energy to make it all work! Over the last few years the band had also undergone line-up changes, as the previous cornerstone of the band Michael Schenker had finally left the band and had now been replaced by the equally competent Paul Chapman (who had previously played with the band before going to join Lone Star) By the time of 1981’s The Wild, the Willing and the Innocent, guitarist and keyboardist Paul Raymond had joined Michael Schenker and was replaced with Neil Carter who had previously worked with Gary Moore and Wild Horses. On The Wild, the Willing and the Innocent the band unlike the previously mentioned other veteran acts saw something of a return to form, as the type of material being offered up was far more in keeping with current trends and things were on the up with the gritty heavy album opener “Chains Chains” which sets the tone for the album. The lack of energy on their previous album is also rectified on energetic workouts like “Long Gone” and the title track “The Wild, the Willing and the Innocent” and overall the band seem hungrier for the challenge. The mid-tempo rockers that usually didn’t work on No Place to Run, work much better here on songs like “It’s Killing Me” “Makin’ Moves” melodic issues like “Lonely Heart” and “Couldn’t Get It Right” but the pick of them all is the album closer “Profession of Violence”. The Wild, the Willing and the Innocent is actually a very highly regarded album from what was a veteran band at the time and despite never ever quite becoming the new Led Zeppelin in the latter part of the 1970s, it’s was still great to see UFO put out this accomplished effort and make this year’s list.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

Album
Praying Mantis were one of a multitude of NWOBHM bands that never quite made the jump into the big league, despite having spent a lot of time supporting Iron Maiden. Their quasi-pomp rock leanings had them almost with one foot in the AOR camp, whilst the other of course was firmly in the metal one (well almost) even though the band seemed to sound more like Foreigner than Iron Maiden at times! The band were led by brothers Tino Troy on guitar and Chris Troy on bass, with Bernie Shaw on vocals but the line-up was never that stable. Praying Mantis were Highlighted as one of the better metal bands when it came to combining harmony between their vocal and the guitar set-up and the band were truly capable of putting out some catchy hooks a la Def Leppard. But the real highlight of the band certainly came in the twin guitar attack of Tino Troy and Steve Carroll, two musicians who were certainly influenced by the twin guitar attack of Thin Lizzy’s Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson, in fact that is probably just one of the numerous Thin Lizzy influences that can be found on the album. Praying Mantis as a band can be completely summed up on their opening track “Cheated” which is a clever song that is a kind of fusion between a Thin Lizzy song and a classic AOR cut. The band quickly lay their melodic stall out as well on songs like “Running for Tomorrow” “Beads of Ebony” “Flirting With Suicide” and album closer “Children of the Earth”. The cream of the album surely comes on “Rich Kids” which sees the Thin Lizzy influences now being replaced by those of Iron Maiden, as they chuck out an AOR track that sounds like it has been recorded by Iron Maiden and Tino Troy almost doubles for Paul Di’Anno. This track is then followed by the melodic and heavy “Lovers to the Grave” another essential before the band then retreat to the Iron Maiden and Paul Di’Anno stance on “Panic in the Streets”. The big miss on the album is surely the disappointing cover of the Kinks’ classic “All the Day and All of the Night” and the band really should’ve left Kinks’ covers for Van Halen! and overall this album wouldn’t be out of place on an AOR playlist. This album has only reached position 18 on the list, for the simple reason that despite having a set of solid songs, I always felt that the album lacked a true soul and the reason for that is because Praying Mantis were very good at displaying their influences, rather than deftly infusing them like Diamond Head could. Praying Mantis never made the jump to the big league which was largely due to the band’s line-up instability that plagued them from early on, but they always remained popular on the Japanese scene. Singer Bernie Shaw would later go on to front Uriah Heep and Praying Mantis in 1990 had a certain Paul Di’Anno fronting them briefly as well.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Trollheart

I concur. The first band to be featured in "Witches, Bitches, Maidens and Monsters", my (so far) five-part look at the NWOBHM. A great way to start; sad they went down the "America calling/AOR" route and lost it. Could have been massive.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018