Search - Praying Mantis :: Live at Last

You can never go back!

Fraser Hale | Ipswich, UK | 05/18/2003

(1 out of 5 stars)

"It's true that you can never recapture the past as you recall it! True, our perceptions change but sometimes other things alter with time and you have to admit that they are gone forever. The item which has apparently made off like a bandit in the case of this album is Paul Dianno's voice. Whilst no right thinking British Heavy Metal fan would give two cents for the Lionheart material contained here, it is disturbing to hear these appalling renditions of Praying Mantis classics. PM wrote some soaring, melodic anthems in their time and they are all comprehensively mutilated here by Dianno who growls and mumbles his way through the material with apparent disregard for tone and pitch.
Sadly he is not the only culprit, the production credits go to Dennis Stratton and Tino Troy. These two presumably listened to the tapes via a transatlantic telephone link while they were mixing the album as the muddy, confused mess would sound more at home on an Edison wax cylinder than a CD.If you're looking for Mantis in all their glory you're better off hunting down the re-issued studio albums."