Stephen
Following the departure of Gary Barden, Praying Mantis recruited Tony O'Hora from Onslaught for the replacement and launched "Forever In Time" in 1998. Still applying the same formula which is a keyboard-driven heavy metal, Praying Mantis found his base in Japan where their music was heavily embraced and appraised.
If at times, you see a resemblance in their music with Iron Maiden, maybe that's because one of their guitarist, Dennis Stratton, was briefly in Maiden for a year in 1979, and dropped that influence on this band's songbook. By incorporating Def Leppard's harmonic vocals style and heavily dominated by keyboard sound, I think Praying Mantis' musical style is very close to early Europe, if you have heard their first two albums with heavy songs such as "In The Future To Come" or "Stormwind".
Out of 10 tracks presented here, none of them are bad but only a few that outshined the others. Another problem here is that Praying Mantis just can't write a timeless hit like what Maiden did with "Run To The Hills" or "Hallowed Be Thy Name", and that's why with many solid and great songs, it's still far from the so-called masterpiece.
My favorite picks here, to name a few, are "The Messiah", "Best Years", the ballad "Remember My Name" that reminds me of Steelheart's "She's Gone", "The Day The Sun Turned Cold", and the title track, "Forever In Time".
This album, should I say again, although lacks of punching memorable riffs and lines, is still a well-rounded record, nice and tight playing, outstanding vocal delivery, awesome harmonization, and even though the production sounds a bit outdated for a year-1998-technology, this is a great effort by the band that's worth every penny spent.