Maximum Metal Rating Legend
5 Excellent - Masterpiece. A classic.
4.5-4 Great - Almost perfect records but there's probably a lacking.
3.5 Good - Most of the record is good, but there may be some filler.
3 Average - Some good songs, some bad ones at about a half/half ratio.
2.5-2 Fair - Worth a listen, but best obtained by collectors.
1.5-1 Bad - Major problems with music, lyrics, production, etc.
0 Terrible - Waste of your life and time.

Note: Reviews are graded from 0-5, anything higher or not showing is from our old style. Scores, however, do not reveal the important features. The written review that accompanies the ratings is the best source of information regarding the music on our site. Reviewing is opinionated, not a qualitative science, so scores are personal to the reviewer and could reflect anything from being technically brilliant to gloriously cheesy fun.

Demos and independent releases get some slack since the bands are often spent broke supporting themselves and trying to improve. Major releases usually have big financial backing, so they may be judged by a heavier hand. All scores can be eventually adjusted up or down by comparison of subsequent releases by the same band. We attempt to keep biases out of reviews and be advocates of the consumer without the undo influence of any band, label, management, promoter, etc.

The best way to determine how much you may like certain music is to listen to it yourself.
Band
Masterplan
Title
Masterplan
Type
LP/EP
Company
AFM
YOR
2003
Style
Power
12/19/2003 - Review by: Anthony Burke
Masterplan S/T 2003 - Reviewed by Anvil

Track Listing
1. Spirit Never Dies
2. Enlighten Me
3. Kind Hearted Light
4. Crystal Night
5. Soulburn
6. Heroes
7. Sail On
8. Into The Light
9. Crawling From Hell
10.Bleeding Eyes
11.When Love Comes Close
After leaving Helloween and forming their new band Masterplan, Uli Kusch (dr.) and Roland Grapow (g.) had two possibilities: either losing grip or making the big deal. Well, honestly they did the last one and how they did it! They acquired the Norwegian Jorn Lande - one of the greatest, eclectic and multi-talented vocalists in the actual power metal scene - who really did a great job.

The album itself is comparable with Helloween with some nuances of Stratovarius and a little touch of Primal Fear. You could say that it's simply a great power-metal album that really kicked ass in Europe (it launched under the top positions for 2003 in Germany and other European countries) and surely it will do that too in the US. What is it that makes this album that special? Well, first of the production is absolutely great. The riffings are modern, heavy and melodic too, the song structure is full of good ideas (but never complex) and the sound is heavy, fast and polished with the great voice of Jorn Lande. All tracks are really fantastic. You won't find a song that isn't great and once you hear them you won't be able to knock them out of your brain.

It's really hard to give hints for getting in this album.... The opener "Spirit Never Dies" will make you crazy, but it is just a taste of what's to come. "Enlighten Me" and "Kind Hearted Light" are hymns and both will surely become classic live tracks that no one will want to miss. But the two best songs (for me) on this great album are "Soulburn" - you cannot top that one!!! - and "Bleeding Eyes" that is rather slow and a little bit gloomy too but absolutely great.

Just one thing remains for me left to say: This album will set new standarts and it will remain as a milestone in power-metal history. Buy it or you'll really miss a masterpiece. Great! - Nuff said.


Rating 7 of 7


--Anvil 12.18.03
(Austria)


http://www.afm-records.de/

For further information go to the official page: http://www.headbangers-ballroom.de/mp_page/index1_800.html
5/23/2003 - Review by: Guest
Masterplan - Masterplan - reviewed by: Metal Rob

Track Listing

1. Spirit Never DIe
2. Enlighten Me
3. Kind Hearted Light
4. Crystal Night
5. Soulburn
6. Heroes
7. Sail On
8. Into The Light
9. Crawling From Hell
9. Bleeding Eyes
10. When Love Comes Close
I was one of the many who by 2002 had lost my enthusiasm for the new wave of power metal. Sure, power metal hadn’t been radical and dangerous since the mid 80’s, but the retro revival of the late 90’s was honest, enthusiastic, defiantly anti-trend, and passionate. The glut of signings that followed as this new power metal wave began to crest had the effect of an overall deterioration of the quality of bands in the genre. Further, the spirit of naiveté, defiance and genuine passion faltered and in many cases it seemed as though the concept of power metal had narrowed, become irredeemably conventionalized, formulaic and safe.

Masterplan prove that power metal can still be fresh, genuine and passionate in the new millennium. They push the boundaries of power metal, injecting a good dose of diversity into their sound. At times Masterplan come across progressive, sounding, like a Coverdale fronted Conception circa Into Your Multitude (Spirit Never Die and Enlighten Me, especially in the Tore Otsby inflected riff Grapow cooks up in the latter). There are moments with AOR and melodic rock references (especially in the Ark-like ballad When Love Comes Close, and the tasty mid-paced ambiguity of Soulburn).

However, while Masterplan certainly push the boundaries, power metal is the continual touchstone of their various departures, suturing this strange beast of many heads together with an overall cohesion. Their strategy is not to entirely avoid all the lyrical and musical clichés associated with the new wave of power metal (double bass drumming, impassioned melodic vocals, speedy and soaring guitar lines, fanciful lyrical themes). Kind Hearted Light, Heroes and Crawling from Hell, arguably the most conventional power metal anthems on this album, show quite dramatically (and to my great surprise) that there is indeed life left in the stereotypes that seemingly threatened to make power metal an unintentionally comical caricature of itself.

Masterplan pull off the near impossible, re-injecting passion and authenticity into what many have for some time dismissed as tired and overused constructs. How do they do this? They do it by the sheer force of their conviction and intensity, by the infectious enthusiasm of their performance, and by the sheer virtuosity of their songwriting skills. The production and presentation are appropriately brilliant, shiny, articulate and fascinating, making this, overall, a very tasty power metal nugget that will satisfy even the most cynical old power metal headbanger, like myself.


--Metal Rob 5.23.03

  • 2 :REVIEW COUNT
    N/A :AVE RATING

ALL REVIEWS FOR: MASTERPLAN
TITLE
DOR
COMPANY
REVIEWER DATE MADE RATING
Aeronautics
2005
AFM
Eric Compton2/28/2005
-
Masterplan
2003
AFM
Anthony Burke12/19/2003
-
Masterplan
2003
AFM
Guest5/23/2003
-
MK II
2007
Candlelight
Etiam1/11/2008
3
MK II
2007
Candlelight
Vinaya Saksena8/17/2007
4
Time To Be King
2010
AFM
Chris Kincaid5/19/2010
4

ALL INTERVIEWS FOR: MASTERPLAN
INTERVIEW INTERVIEWER DATE TAGLINE
Roland GrapowEdwin2/28/2005


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