Johannes Maria Knoll

Guitar virtuoso Johannes Maria Knoll comes from years of gigging/recording with other artists to present his own visionary art.  Mining that experience and knowledge, transcended is an absolute guitar lovers delight.  Primarily using the hard rock/progressive rock context, his instrumental tunes evoke various images from the text of the Bible.  Tracks like “Creation” and “The Fall of Man” depict the tumultuous beginnings of man with the harsh riffs and dynamic solos.  Also the rock solid accompaniment by Christian Eigner (Depeche Mode) on drums and Gerald Schaffhauser (House of Riddim, Lukascher…) on bass drive the songs forward as Knoll spins his guitar magic.  His playing seems an intricate combination of the styles of Steve Howe combined with the fierceness of John Petrucci.

While the Old Testament tales seem to bring out the harder side of the album, the latter tracks initially evoke a peaceful and serene feeling.  For instance, a pleasant jazz groove plays out on “Joy” and a new age ambience welcomes “His First Coming”.  Oddly enough though, “The Sermon on the Mount” drives along in a bluesy fashion.  But adding a psychedelic guitar solo and weird harmonica bit puts a different twist on the topic.  Also, “The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem” places us in a modern context  with background helicopter sounds.  Full out blues mode is expressed during “Trials”.

But first and foremost, what you’ll get out of this album, is some fantastic guitar playing, no matter the context or style.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXAri8vVMzA[/embedyt]

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