TOBY KNAPP is quite a busy fellow. Since he was discovered by Mike Varney (Shrapnel Records) in 1992 he actually has had his name on no less than 22 albums. He is or was a member of many bands, including Onward, Waxen, Where Evil Follows, Necrytis, Affliktor and Darken. Somehow this man also has time to record solo material under his own name. To be precise, “Transmission to Purgatory” is his ninth solo album to date. And it is completely instrumental.

His guitar style is often compared to being a mix of ULI JON ROTH (solo and ex-SCORPIONS) and YNGWIE MALMSTEEN. I feel that is quite accurate. He clearly loves his guitar masturbation exercises, as he is prone to go over his frets at quite the speed, but he also is prone to making sure that a solo can be subtle and emotional, when required. He showcases a brilliant combination of those two styles on “Delirium Hierarchy”. Especially the solo at the end of the song has that almost MICHAEL SCHENKER like vibe, mixed with ULI JON ROTH. He does the same on “Black Light Temple” and “No Raid At Dawn”. That simply impresses me more than trying to break the speed limit. That’s when I feel you hear and experience the musician, not the guitarist.

As for the album being instrumental, I am very aware that this is not everyone’s cup of tea. I am not the biggest fan either, but as TOBY KNAPP has kept the playing time of “Transmission to Purgatory” to just over 33 minutes, it’s not so bad. That is just short enough to prevent the overload of guitar abuse to my ears from me being put off. Although I must admit that the boring piece of a kind of drum solo on “Hydrophobia #2” actually put me off in a big way. For the rest his music is very well written, but predictable for a massively guitar orientated album.

I do hope that TOBY KNAPP has gotten his ego trip out of his system with “Transmission to Purgatory”, because he can write good songs. Some of them are on this record too, but not always recognisable due to the overindulgence of guitar. For me it is a case of having heard too many of these guitarists just trying to impress with their playing, and forgetting the music. I am glad that TOBY KNAPP has remembered to do just that on the “Transmission to Purgatory” album.