Are Praying Mantis NWOBHM or not?  Of course they are, but they don't sound like it.  Polished, melodic and commercial sounding, they were basically the opposite of the raw grittiness of most of the other NWOBHM bands.  When I first heard it, it reminded me of something that came out of the Hair Band era - specifically something that Rainbow (sans Dio) would produce.  Hey, what do you know - according to Wikipedia, Praying Mantis recorded a version of I Surrender at the same time that Rainbow did, but Rainbow apparently blocked its release.  Anyways, commercial sounding or not, Time Tells No Tales is a classically great album, especially the tracks  Flirting With Suicide, Children Of The Earth, and Panic In the Streets.

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