MASTERPLAN announced that drummer Martin “Marthus” Skaroupka will be unable to perform at the band’s performances on the upcoming Full Metal Cruise, which sets sail on May 5th-12th, 2013. To fill in, the band has tapped Luca Turill’s RHAPSODY‘s drummer Alex Landenburg (21 Octayne/Mekong Delta).
Masterplan is about to release the new LP “Novum Initium” on May 17, 2013 through AFM Records. The band welcomes new members: Jari Kainulainen (Ex-Stratovarius) on bass, Skaroupka (Cradle of Filth) on drums and new vocalist Rick Altzi. Landenburg played with Altzi in At Vance, which is how he came to be contacted:
“Rick called me to ask whether I had some time and wanted to do it. I said yes, and later Roland [Grapow] called me and we spoke about the details. Obviously, Rick [with At Vance] and Jari [with Symfonia] are friends of mine, who I have played with before” explains Landenburg.
The Full Metal Cruise starts in Hamburg and will call at three ports: Southampton in the south west of England, La Havre at the French coast of the English Channel and Amsterdam in the Netherlands before returning to Hamburg. Bands scheduled to appear are:
Bembers, Betontod, Blaas Of Glory, Circle II Circle, Devil’s Train, Dew-Scented, Doro, Eric Fish, Eskimo Callboy, Firewind, Gamma Ray, Heaven Shall Burn, In Extremo, Kreator, Mambo Kurt, Masterplan, Mutz Unplugged, Onkel Tom, Sabaton, Santiano, U.D.O., Van Canto.
Check out footage of Alex playing “Dawn of Victory” with Rhapsody in Cologne, Germany on March 12, 2012:
Drum-cam footage of CRADLE OF FILTH‘s Martin “Marthus” Skaroupka performing the song “Born In A Burial Gown” on December 14, 2012 at Theater Fabrik in Munich, Germany can be seen below.
CRADLE OF FILTH‘s tenth studio album, “The Manticore And Other Horrors”, sold 4,500 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 96 on The Billboard 200 chart. The band’s previous full-length effort, “Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa”, opened with 5,800 units in November 2010 to land at No. 99.
CRADLE OF FILTH‘s 2008 CD, “Godspeed On The Devil’s Thunder”, premiered with a little over 11,000 copies to enter the chart at No. 48. This was slightly less than the first-week tally registered by 2006′s “Thornography”, which shifted nearly 13,000 copies the first week out to enter The Billboard chart at No. 66, and “Nymphetamine”, which premiered with almost 14,000 copies back in October 2004.
“The Manticore And Other Horrors” was released in North America on October 30, 2012 via Nuclear Blast Records.
Recorded in eight weeks at both Springvale and Grindstone studios (where it was also mixed by Scott Atkins), Suffolk, “The Manticore And Other Horrors” is a testament to the longevity of the ‘FILTH, as not only does it reek of CRADLE‘s (feared or revered) brand of delicious metal vamperotica, but this thoroughly modern album places the band firmly in fresh killing fields anew.
Drum-cam footage of CRADLE OF FILTH‘s Martin ‘Marthus’ Skaroupka‘s performing the song Cthulhu Dawn on December 14th at Theater Fabrik in Munich can be viewed below:
German melodic metallers MASTERPLAN have revealed their new band lineup.
Joining recently announced new drummer Martin “Marthus” Skaroupka (CRADLE OF FILTH) are vocalist Rick Altzi (AT VANCE, SANDALINAS, THUNDERSTONE), who replaces Jorn Lande, and bassist Jari Kainulainen (pictured below, ex-STRATOVARIUS, SYMPHONIA).
The band are currently recording the follow-up to their 2010 release, Time To Be King. The new album is expected in March, 2013. Bass recordings were completed today.
Stay tuned for further updates from the band.
MASTERPLAN lineup:
Rick Altzi – vocals Roland Grapow – guitars Axel Mackenrott – keyboards Jari Kainulainen – bass Martin “Marthus” Skaroupka – drums
German/Norwegian melodic metallers MASTERPLAN have tapped Czech musician Martin “Marthus” Skaroupka (CRADLE OF FILTH) to lay down the drum tracks for the band’s new album.
Commented MASTERPLAN guitarist/mastermind Roland Grapow (formerly of HELLOWEEN): “We are very happy that we found Martin. He is a very talented and powerful drummer and besides that he is an amazing gifted songwriter.”
Added Martin: “I feel honored that the band has chosen me to record drums on the new MASTERPLAN album! I have always been a huge fan of MASTERPLAN‘s music and I am indeed looking forward to record the new MASTERPLAN album! This is going to be a blast, no doubt about it!”
Back in March, Grapow revealed that he had 15 songs written for MASTERPLAN‘s next album. He added, “We are looking for a more powerful album this time… still with great melodies and feelings, but also with more orchestration and faster stuff again… just more metal.”
In an August 2011 interview with the Czech web portal Kultura21.cz, Grapow stated about the status of the songwriting sessions for the next MASTERPLAN album, “This time we tried not to make demo productions, which have a poor sound — so we wanted to make really nice pre-production [recordings] which sound very close to the album sound, which is very easy [to do] in my studio now. I think we have many, many new ideas which, I guess, are a little bit more modern and more aggressive as well. So we try not to follow any trends of MASTERPLAN — I’m not saying we’re reproducing the first album or the third one or the fifth one. I think we always have to try to make some surprises for the people. The ‘Time To Be King’ album is great, but this new album sounds a bit different again. I always want to do this, because I’m not that kind of guy who wants to make every year the same album.”
On the topic of MASTERPLAN‘s numerous lineup changes, Grapow said, “I think it’s always difficult in this band, I guess. If you see, the first album just came out after a big turbulence — leaving HELLOWEEN, Uli [Kusch, drums] and me. I think this band always needs some very bad moments to some great songs. [Laughs] And it looks like MASTERPLAN, basically, is my main band, and whoever will sing and whoever will play in the band, I’m happy with, or if Jorn [Lande, vocals] will stay as long as possible. But, basically, at the moment, I’m thinking the main songwriters are Axel [Mackenrott, keyboards] now and me. Also Jan [S. Eckert], the bass player, who was very involved in different in projects and has a great job now, just called me one week ago. He’s happy to continue with MASTERPLAN and he’s looking forward to the next album and the next tour. So whatever happens, this band will continue. It’s very important for me to show that we still have the power and the ability to write beautiful melodies and some aggression and rock and metal songs. Whatever we do, we want just to make good-quality stuff.”
MASTERPLAN‘s last CD, “Time To Be King”, was released on May 21, 2010 through AFM Records. The CD’s first single, “Far From The End Of The World”, was issued on April 16, 2010.
