Praying Mantis masked
Bloodbath_and_Beyond | usa | 01/05/2010
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Stratus were essentially one of the more melodic and commercial sounding NWOBHM bands Praying Mantis along with future Uriah Heep vocalist Bernie Shaw, and former Iron Maiden drummer Clive Burr. Although most people who know these people would seem ingrigued by the idea...but the album itself isnt that great. It's just basically typical mid 80's AOR/radio rock. Clive Burr left Iron Maiden after their Number Of The Beast album in '82. And Praying Mantis while a little less metal than their contemporaries (Tygers Of Pan Tang, Angel Witch, Venom, Demon, Saxon, Gaskin, Witchfynde, Savage, Satan, Tank etc) were still a decent band. This effort falls short of even that band. However if you like the typical kinda melodic Journey-ish arena rock, you might really enjoy this. It's more a collectors item than anything else. Although fans of any of the above mentioned parties might wanna check it out. It remained out of print for many years but has recently come back in...and with no bonus tracks. Interestingly...fans of low budget independent gore/comdies might recognize one of the songs off this album as being one of the more frequent soundtrack items from the 1986 Troma classic Class Of Nuke 'Em High. Fans of that movie seem to really like the song "Run For Your Life", which is definetly the best song on this album and is an energetic song indeed that seems to have the most inspiration and writing behind it. So in the end, the curious will get treated to a bunch of talented musicians seemingly trying to make a commercial rock album that few people have heard."
A Collector's Item that Sucks
Paul Hawthorne | Texas | 06/29/2009
(1 out of 5 stars)
"Being the lineup it was, I expected something more hard hitting. Instead it sounds like a bad version of Survivor. A Collector's item I got elsewhere w/o listening to it first, I was disappointed. If you like early Praying Mantis, Maiden, Leppard, etc this is not going to be all that."
This is really Praying Mantis under a different name.
haskpts | 09/09/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Back in 1985 Stratus released the "Throwing Shapes" LP but it didn't get a UK release, it was just released on the Belgian Steel Trax label and also had a Japanese pressing. Bernie Shaw was lead singer in Stratus (Praying Mantis) before he joined Uriah Heep.
After playing drums for Iron Maiden, drummer Clive Burr chose to form Stratus with 3 members of Praying Mantis: the Troy brothers (Tino & Chris) and vocalist Bernie Shaw.
The music is Americanized soft rock in the vein of say, Journey. But has the British edge to it. Of course those familiar with the bands Alaska and Uriah Heep may be familiar with the vocal stylings of Bernie Shaw.
A long lost decent AOR album from the past (1985) ... it has raucous rockers, the always there on any AOR album ... a ballad, and some nooks and crannies to keep the listener happy. No bonus tracks on this one ... and the production isn't the greatest on earth, but surely a listenable semi-classic,obscure AOR/hard rock album.
1. Backstreet Lovers
2. Gimme Something
3. Even If It Takes
4. Give Me One More Chance
5. Never Say No
6. Run For Your Life
7. Romancer
8. Enough Is Enough
9. So Tired
Tino Troy - Guitar
Chris Troy - Bass Guitar
Bernie Shaw - Vocal
Clive Burr - Drums
Alan Nelson - Keyboards
"
Track Listings (9) - Disc #1