Photo courtesy of the Toby Knapp
We have some serious riffage for you in the form of “Abramelin Carousel” from Toby Knapp. The guitar virtuoso is pushing things eve further on this track, which he claims is an ode to his guitar heroes.
“I like to make music that reflects what I’m a fan of at that point in time,” says Knapp about the album. “The last several years have been a cycle where I’m on a traditional heavy metal kick, so I do an Onward, Where Evil Follows, or Necrytis album. After I get the traditional metal out of my system, I go on to black metal, the complete opposite, because that genre becomes interesting to me again, and I’ll do a Waxen album. After that, I get back into the old-school, instrumental, guitar-driven metal that I’ve always loved. These are my three genres, and I have three separate record deals with Moribund to cover everything.
“‘Abramelin Carousel’ is definitely me emulating my guitar heroes, so you’ve got the Yngwie influence, and near the end of the track, it’s the Marty Friedman “Dragon’s Kiss” type of sound. I’m pretty strict about tunings and recording methods because I think a lot of new metal sounds the same, especially the production aspect. I liked when albums sounded different because the recording circumstances were different. Shrapnel Records sounded like Prairie Sun Studios, and early black metal sounded like a four track in a basement. Unisound Records in Greece, Morrisound studios in Florida. Now everyone has the Andy Sneap software or plugins or whatever (not literally) and the albums sound huge, but the band is still just a thrash garage band live.
Regarding the title of the song, Knapp says it is inspired by his brush with another plain while delving into the metaphysical.
“I got this title from a book I studied seriously for a few years called The Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage. I was really into Aleister Crowley and Hermeticism, and I practiced that stuff. It was so interesting and mysterious. I got foolish with the Abramelin book and skipped a bunch of steps in a magical process and got stuck in a bizarre magical vortex for a while. It was very real. I had professional occultists step in and help me undo my mess. I recorded a Waxen album, Blasphemer in Celestial Courts, which was sort of a self-exorcism and that was the end of my occult interests. This year, I sold lots of my books off!
“Odin Thompson (Moribund Records) is very knowledgeable about the occult and even the Hermetic, really old magic. He and video maker extraordinaire Luiz combined the Abramelin imagery with footage of me playing along with the song. I didn’t realize this video was going to be so immersed in the occult, and the first time I watched I was like, “Oh no! Not the squares again!” Those little squares can get you trouble. I did love the result. It just seemed to come ‘From the Aether.’”
He also opens up about the fact that his is a tough subgenre to be in in 2024.
:Instrumental heavy metal has been a difficult genre to really “succeed” in because it’s heyday ended decades ago. I do it because I love it, obviously. Shrapnel President Mike Varney recently said something to the effect of, “guitar work need not be faster than the fastest guys on Shrapnel Records,” and I agree with that. The song always comes first. I think Jason Becker “Perpetual Burn” is the perfect album of the genre, and it’s not something we’re going to see again. I heard that album when I was 16 and was wise enough to know, “I can’t do that; I’ll never be able to do that!” I understood Jason Becker is a musical genius; I’m just a guitar player.
“This understanding served me well because I concentrated on the things I did excel at musically. In doing this, I got my record deal with Shrapnel Records after all, and I’m still here making music and selling albums 30 years later.”
Get the album here or stream it on Spotify or Apple Music.