Praying Mantis - Legacy (2015)

Genre - Hard Rock / NWoBHM / Melodic Rock

Label - Frontiers Music

 

Track listing:

 

01. Fight For Your Honour
02. The One
03. Believable
04. Tokyo
05. Better Man
06. All I See
07. Eyes Of A Child
08. The Runner
09. Against The World
10. Fallen Angel
11. Second Time Around

 

NWoBHM vetrens, Praying Mantis, return with a brand new album in the form of Legacy, the first to feature drummer Hans In T' Zandt (Bangalore Choir, Vengeance) and new vocalist John 'Jaycee' Cujipers. It’s been four years since their Metamorphosis release, and that was just an EP of re-recordings. Their last proper studio album – the excellent Sanctuary – was released back in 2009.
Today, Praying Mantis are more of a melodic rock band, a very good one at that, but with a highly polished sound more akin to FM than their NWoBHM contemporaries of yesteryear such as Saxon, Iron Maiden, Diamond Head, Jaguar Samson and Vardis, but that's no bad thing when the songs are as well written as those on offer here with Legacy. There’s still a bit of their British classic metal roots here, especially in the twin guitars of Tino Troy and Andy Burgess, but it’s the band’s focus on melody that drives the album, and what makes these songs hit home right from the start. What can we say of new vocalist John 'Jaycee' Cujipers? Well he is great to be honest, he has a steady, powerful voice (he sings for a Dio tribute band if that tells you anything) that’s just perfect for this kind of classic Melodic Hard Rock. Even more so when he’s backed by the Troy brothers on the soaring choruses, fitting the songs really, really well.

"Legacy" features eleven new songs, and they’re all very strong, some of them truly awesome.
Leadoff single “Fight For Your Honour” captures the spirit of "Legacy" quite well, but you could pick, “Tokyo,” “Against the World” or “Eyes of a Child” and still seal the deal.
Even the more traditional love song “The One” has pomp and power.
"Legacy" is more than a worthwhile addition to the Praying Mantis discography, it is one of the strongest Classic Melodic Hard Rock albums 2015 has to offered so far.

 

Existing fans will love this album, as will fans of the melodic rock genre on a whole.

 

Well worth checking out!!

 

Rating 9/10

 

 



OZZY OSBOURNE - Memoirs Of A Madman (2014)

Genre - Hard Rock / Heavy Metal

Label - Legacy

 

Track listing:

01 - Crazy Train
02 - Mr. Crowley
03 - Flying High Again
04 - Over The Mountain
05 - Bark At The Moon
06 - The Ultimate Sin
07 - Miracle Man
08 - No More Tears
09 - Mama, I'm Coming Home
10 - Road To Nowhere
11 - Perry Mason
12 - I Just Want You
13 - Gets Me Through
14 - Changes (feat. Kelly Osbourne)
15 - I Don't Wanna Stop
16 - Let Me Hear You Scream
17 - Paranoid (Live at The Roundhouse, London 2010)
(Previously unreleased)

"Memoirs Of A Madman" serves as a great reminder of Ozzy's career, spanning audio release featuring 17 of OZZY OSBOURNE's greatest hit singles remastered and compiled in one place for the first time in his career.
This set offers fans of the multi-platinum recording artist, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and three-time Grammy winning singer and songwriter the ultimate collection from Ozzy's distinguished solo career.
In 1979, after a ten-year journey, Ozzy and his band mates - hard rock/metal pioneers Black Sabbath - parted ways, which opened the book to an amazing new chapter as Ozzy embarked on an incredible solo career.
From the first notes of Ozzy's 1980's solo debut 'Blizzard Of Ozz' and follow-up 'Diary Of A Madman' to classic albums 'Bark At The Moon' and 'No More Tears', no hard rock / metal solo artist had quite the same reach as Ozzy, whose distinctive vocal delivery and larger than life onstage persona quickly endeared him to millions of rockers.
Ozzy's influence never stopped as the years went on, from the creation of the successful rock event Ozzfest to an unlikely turn as a television star on MTV's hit series The Osbournes.
For Ozzy, though, his heart remained in the music: his tenth studio album, 2010's 'Scream', debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard charts and featured the No. 1 Mainstream Rock smash "Let Me Hear You Scream", included here of course.
This is the audio only package with all songs sounding wonderfully remastered.
It is highly recommended to get as well the two-disc DVD set which includes classic music videos, along with unreleased and out-of-print live performances, plus interviews.
This is definitely a long-awaited collection of Ozzy's visual material that, up until this release, has never been available in one place and much less in digital media.
"Memoirs Of A Madman" is an almost perfect compilation, the only complain it's the omission of one of Ozzy's best songs ever; "Shot In The Dark".
Apart from that, this is a must have.
Rating - 9/10