MASTERPLAN

Is this prog metal? Maybe. It's more prog metal than the German band Helloween, where Uli Kusch and Roland Grapow come from. It's also a bit lighter and smarter than Helloween. Norwegian Jorn Lande, who's sung for Avantasia and Beyond Twilight, raises this album to the next level.

The highlight of the album is the almost 10-minute-long "Black in the Burn." But each song here is strong, with a musical style more like Avantasia than Helloween. Ultimately, this is quality melodic power metal, with some very light prog touches. Fans of Jorn Lande, and prog metal fans who don't mind venturing a little bit past the edges of the genre, will find a lot to like here. 4 stars.

I am a little surprised by inclusion of Masterplan, founded by former members of German power metal pioneers Helloween. Both bands are power metal with just a whiff of prog (and Helloween has more multi-part epics). Include both or neither, I think. Anyway, as far as power metal goes, Masterplan are above the fray. Lyrical themes are above average, melodies often dramatic instead of the usual happy-go-lucky lets-go-pillage, and the icing on the cake is the superb hard rock gruff vocals of Jorn Lande, whose convincing delivery alone elevates this above the usual power metal stuff. Too bad he would stay with them only intermittently.

For fans of more straight up power metal, this is a quite excellent album. The songwriting is a mix of classic heavy metal, european power metal, and a little touch of prog. Rick Altzis pipes are lower and grittier than Landes, but it fits the music. Grapow joins him on the last track, and their voices compliments one another perfectly. The guitars are melodic and hard hitting, the keys are competent but never in the front. The drums and the bass are certainly good, but like the keys they are overshadowed by the dominant guitars. In conclusion this is a very good power/heavy metal album. It's classic and easily accessible, but it never goes in to the boring clich's which are often in this type of metal. A weak 4 for all fans of heavy/power metal, maybe a solid 2 for all progheads who doesn't like the power genre.

Masterplan return with an enjoyable slab of melodic song-based power metal. there isn't much more to be said about this one, the songs don't really add much to their legacy and they certainly don't push any progressive boundaries. But as I said, it's enjoyable enough for fans and potentially could rate 3.5 stars on a metal site. Roland Grapow produces acouple of riffs and solo flouries that are enjoyable and Jorn Lande rides the rhythms well with his vocals. Whilst Mike Terrana showed a bit of penash on the previous MKII release, I hardly notice he's there on this one. Probably the two highlights are the bass and keyboards, but that's pretty straight ahead too. Bread and butter metal.

My heavy metal taste is strange. It seems to come in phases. My last one was between the years of 1997-2001. It was good to know several bands that mixed very well prog elements within the heavy metal context, some more (Dream Theatre, Thereshold, Shadow Gallery, Royal Hunt, etc) , some less (Kamelot, Edenbridge, Nightwish, etc), but all bringing something new and exciting to the musical scene. So I was back into the ´pure´ prog format when this CD came out. And its qualities made me buy it when it came out and I heard it on the store.

Formed by ex Helloween members Roland Grapow (guitar) and Uli Kusch (drums), both excellent players and songwriters, plus singer extraordinaire Jörn Lande (ex Yngwie Malmsteem´s Rising Force and In The Company Of Snakes, among others), bassist Jan S. Eckert (ex Iron Saviour, another Helloween spin off) and keyboardist Axel Mackenrott. Their sound is a very powerful melodic heavy metal with prog hints. All songs are catchy, very well written, tastefully arranged and produced. All tracks are excellent, proving once and for all that Grapow and Kusch, even if they were not original members, were very much responsible for a lot of the ´Helloween sound` of late.

There are no fillers and my special edition CD came with a bonus disc containing the videoclip of Enlighten Me, interviews and screen saver. Highlights are Lande´s strong and versatile vocals (he is one of rock´s best singers ever), the fine musicanship of all involved and the superb production. Although the prog element here is harlly the main course (it´s mostly on the atmospheric keyboards parts), the music is nevertheless very good and elaborated. If you´re into power metal with great melodies, addictive hooks and skillful playing, go for it! It is one of the best debuts i´ve heard in the new millenium.

What most people want to know: - New singer Mike DiMeo / vocals is a notch below Jorne Lande, in fact someone may prefer him as his vocals do not dominate.

A lot better than many power metal releases as the drummer, - Mike Terrana, of Rage varies his drumming style.

However, like Rage, they will still be 2nd tier to heavy weights like Helloween, Gamma Ray and Blind Guardian because of their songwriting.

Songs / Tracks Listing 1. Phoenix Rising 2. Warrior's Cry 3. Lost And Gone 4. Keeps me Burning 5. Take Me Over 6. I'm Gonna Win 7. Watching The World 8. Call The Gypsy 9. Trust In You 10. Masterplan 11. Enemy 12. Heart Of Darkness

Of the songs above, Take, Me Over, I'm Gonna Win and Watching the World are in the same class as those groups mentioned above.

I give it a 4. 3.8 to be exact, because it is much better than good, but not reaching excellent, especially since I seldom given 5 reviews as essential (these are hall of fame recordings deserving this)

There was a period of time in my life as a young man when I found it difficult to understand deep, complex music, especially when it's basically prog. I held myself onto mainstream music, especially to post-grunge music, but the problem was that there were so many different songs crossing my mind that I've had difficulties to decide what's my most favourite band/group/artist. But now as I found something that offered me a warm, friendly step towards the further understanding of music in the prog and metal territory, Masterplan revealed the opportunity and marked the beginning of a new path where people like me walk further away from the eclectic fields of the mainstream territory.

And as I have shared my first experience of becoming one of the million pilgrims in the prog and metal world, I am writing my first review on the first album that gave me one of my life's revelations: The Masterplan debut album.

Looking back to the first days when I listened to Masterplan, I never thought that power metal could grab me with with its catchy, accessible melodies but also with the complexity that allows the songs to keep growing on me. The band's reliability on their song's depth was somewhat inspired from the progressive rock/metal territory, most notably from the Norwegian band Ark. So, the founding members, Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch, have really used their potential to their fullest since they were fired by the remaining band members of Helloween. I've personally never been a fan of the latter, so I guess it justifies the duo's commitment to what was originally their side-project.

And so... our lord above sent us Jorn Lande! That's right, Jorn frigging Lande! By now, he's been famous for his voice, which (and here we go again) possesses the versatility of David Coverdale and the power of Ronnie James Dio. Not only am I in love of his unique voice and his melodic songwriting, I also admire him for his imaginative, introspective and thought-provoking lyrics that he helps providing the band with. Masterplan, I do tell you my good friend, is not a band with just another high-pitched vocalist, this is practically a one-of-a-kind vocalist. Sadly, it's a pity that he left the band 3 years later due to musical differences (Jorn leans more to the melodic, hard-rock direction while the duo leans more to the heavier sound), much to their fans' disappointment. Oh well... Those were quite sweet times while they lasted, and I am certain they haven't seen the last of each other yet...

Though those three members stand out the most in their debut album, creatively and musically, both the ex-Iron Savior bassist Jan Sören Eckert and the Children of Bodom-keyboardist Janne Warmen (or was it Warman?) deserve some credits as well. Janne only lasted temporarily as a session member due to his commitment to CoB, but he left some decent marks in Masterplan's sound with some pianic pieces (Soulburn) and atmospheric layers (especially in Into The Light, Crawling From Hell and Bleeding Eyes). The member position he left was soon filled in by Axel Mackenrott, who is also a decent keyboard player despite that his musical career just began to gain momentum. Jan S. Eckert is... well, in my opinion, he just fills the bass lines where it's needed. Nevertheless, the sound is well audible and I thought it helped kick up the heat of the songs, especially in Crystal Night and Crawling From Hell.

In short, Masterplan is one of the few bands that you'll find some difficulty not to like, if you're at least something of a metal fan. Their debut album stands well out thanks to its accessible and hooky melodies and at the same time leaves you wanting for more... And the following albums won't disappoint either, the band members have proved their consistency in their well-inspired songwriting. And if you're just like me, you'll probably begin to learn the significance of how progressive elements, if only a few, helps the band to stick out from other bands of the same genre. (Though not a prog-metal band, Masterplan is commonly known as a power metal band, with some prog-related inspirations)

Personal album highlights: Almost every song are worthy highlights, but honorable mentions go to Spirit Never Die, Soulburn, Into The Light and Bleeding Eyes.

|D| Cookie cutter power metal with prog moments.

That pretty much sums up the nature of the power metal band Masterplan's most recent album, MK II. My brother bought this album about a year ago or so when he was really into power metal and I've listened to it every so often since. At the time it was a pretty cool album, though even then I sensed its evident cookie cutter quality. This is certainly more well written and slightly less obnoxiously cliche than much of the power metal out there, but all of the tracks follow the same or a very similar formula, that of cliche power metal which standard verse-chorus-solo-etc. sort of structure, with slightly proggy moments, especially the intros to many of the songs.

Most of the cliches of power metal are right here in this album: rhythm guitar doing not much more than power chords and sixteenth or eighth note strumming on the same note per measure or two, overuse of double bass drumming, relatively simple song structure, overly melodic and epic vocal melodies with corny lyrics. Occasionally, mainly in the intros of some tracks, we'd have some nice proggy moments with clean guitar, nice chord changes, and great synth string keyboard work, but these are usually brief and go straight into the cliche power metal sound, with which many of us prog metallers are familiar.

So unless you're already a fan of power metal, this isn't an album you will probably be interested in. The best tracks are Take Me Over, Call the Gypsy, and the album title track, which is probably the main reason anyone would want to buy this album. Otherwise, this album isn't really very noteworthy, and it even isn't too revered in the power metal community anyways. Get this album only if you collect power metal or already like the band's work. Otherwise, there's not much here even an average prog metal fan would be interested in.

Jorn Lande from Ark and uli-grapow from helloween...nice introduction from This Band.and good musicians on this work.when i saw this album for the first Time i tought that this beautiful work was pure-power metal music.and really in a Certain Way it is,but it contains nice Vocals parts performed by the -master- Lande with gread melodic work,making this album more catchy and im never get bored listening to this songs. -Headbangers ballroom-After this war-dark from the dying-falling sparrow-.For my personal taste,they are the better ones on this album.in a few times you can heart progressive elemments,specially in the solo section,a Lot of changes..Well.i like this album.and if you like power melodic metal..you will enjoy this,NICE. 3.5 stars

Cheers.. (-Jack-)

I already did the review of Aeronautics and had originally the intention to leave it at that one. This was because I (like most other reviewers) truly believe this is not prog, at best just a slight touch of it. And I have the habit of ignoring the bands and albums that shouldn't really be on this website. But if you look at my list of reviewed albums you can see I already have been quite inconsistent with that (10 CC, Queen, Santana, etc.) so I might as well do Masterplan.

Also because I really love this band, their songs are very strong and powerful and can give one a lot of energy just by listening to it. And I always love and admire bands that have that impact on someone's mood. And what's also a great achievement: it goes for all the songs on this album, another aspect I can very much appreciate. Not every album I know has just very strong tracks, most of the time there are a few less impressive ones.

So that's what I can say about it. Another great effort by Masterplan and a very strong debut. I can only reward it with 4 stars. A great (power)metal album but not a convincing progressive one to say the least. But in this case quality and impact beats progressive content.