Ι am a huge admirer of Praying Mantis’ body of work but truth be told here, I was kinda cautious after the disastrous results of the previous album, the abominable “Gravity”. On the other hand, I was pretty sure that Mantis wouldn’t repeat the same mistake twice thus I just pushed “play” and the songs of “Katharsis” rushed through the speakers of my stereo.
Luckily for each and every single fan of the band, “Katharsis” is a a far superior effort compared to its predecessor…not that it was such a difficult achievement but still…what it’s more important is the fact that the new album is a really remarkable melodic rock effort that stands out regardless the name of the band. After all, the first two singles (“Cry For The Nations” and “Closer To Heaven”) were more than encouraging. And yes, there can be found a couple of fillers on “Katharsis” but the rest of the tracks are absolutely amazing. Especially the two closing numbers, the Michael Schenker-influenced “Don’t Call Us Now” and the majestic “The Devil Never Changes” which owes enough to the classis riff of “Send Her My Love” by Journey.
Having said that, I gotta say that there are a couple of things that really bother me with Praying Mantis since 2015. The first one is that I believe that they seem to have somehow lost its trademark sound and secondly I don’t think that John Cuijpers is suitable for Mantis despite the fact that he has a great voice. But we all know why he is here in the first place as he can easily handle those early songs in a live environment. And he’s doing a phenomenal job on these numbers.
All in all, I think that “Kathrasis” is a really strong record with its ups and down…as it happens with the vast majority of new albums nowadays. Welcome back, guys!
Highlight: The cover artwork by Rainer Kalwitz is really inspired (and inspiring).
