Review Of The New Toby Knapp Album "Power Metal Prophecy"
Band Name: Toby Knapp
Album Title: Power Metal Prophecy
Tracklist:
Power Metal Prophecy
Night Of The Rager
Malefic Machines
Retaliation
Horned Dominion
Battalions Of Hades
Cowards
The Tempest
Rating: 10/10
Release Date: May 7, 2026
Label: Stormspell Records
Running Time: 30:41
Version Reviewed: Jewel Case CD
Band Members:
Toby Knapp - All Instruments
Additional Album Info:
All Songs Written, Performed And Produced By Toby Knapp
Recorded At Current Eleven Studio In Big Horn, Wyoming
Photography By Marjorie Knapp And Scott Burgan
Booklet Layout And Design By Mumintroll
Oh, Mr. Toby Knapp! You excel at everything you do! And you are also very eclectic and prolific. You have released albums in numerous metal subgenres. Power, Speed, Thrash and even Black Metal with your project Waxen. Here is his newest solo album titled “Power Metal Prophecy". Did I like this one? Did I think it should go into the Knapp (Scrap) heap? Read on, faithful readers and find out for yourself!
Like all of his solo albums, “Power Metal Prophecy” is in a more Traditional Heavy Metal style with a ton of shredding, Thrash and Speed Metal (Fucking SLAYER!) and even some influences taken from Loudness and Helloween! Have you ever heard Toby shred and hear his guitar leads and solos? If not, you should. It’s an amazing thing to hear. Toby plays everything on this album himself. Everything. And he excels at them all. His bass playing is phenomenal and the drumming, while it may be a drum machine, sounds excellent as well. Not sure if those are real drums or not! I hear a ton of Helloween on here, down to dual lead guitars which are obviously both performed by Toby. This is just great, in your face, full on Metal and I can’t get enough. The production is awesome as well and man… the distortion on that guitar! As Homer would say: “Drooool* Tony uses numerous vocal styles here. Power, Thrashand more.In a move I have rarely seen lately from Stormspell Records, the lyrics aren’t included in the CD booklet. A search from Mr. Arty Knowledgeable showed they are about “dark fantasy, apocalyptic themes, sci-fi desolation and personal reliance”.
The cover art for the album is an Egyptian scene where followers are bowing to a God. Lightning steaks down from a darkened sky into the God’s scepter and there’s a pyramid too. It reminds me of a mix between Iron Maiden’s "Powerslave" and Ancient’s “The Cainian Chronicle". It’s colorful and pleasing to the eye, for sure. Inside are a few words from Toby, a few photos and the album and other information as well.
If you are into any kind of 80’s Metal, you need to own a copy of “Power Metal Prophecy”. Rarely will you hear new 80’s styled Metal played with such passion and professionalism. Toby loves Metal and it shows with the little note he wrote inside that booklet. In that note he said that a lot of shit went wrong during the recording of this and called it a disaster to record. You could have fooled me. This fucking album rules! This warrants my highest rating possible!
As always, I ask my readers to support the bands, labels and artists by purchasing the physical copies of the albums you love or by going to their Bandcamp and/or Facebook pages and supporting them there.
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