According to Blabbermouth.net, OVERKILL, STRATOVARIUS, JON OLIVA’S PAIN, PAIN OF SALVATION, MASTERPLAN and SEVENTH WONDER are among the confirmed bands for next year’s edition of the ProgPower USA festival, set to take place Septemebr 12-13, 2014 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Confirmed acts:
Friday, September 12, 2014
DISCOURSE, ORDEN OGAN, LEPROUS, OVERKILL, SEVENTH WONDER (performing “Mercy Falls” in its entirety), STRATOVARIUS
Saturday, September 13, 2014
WITHEM, DIVIDED MULTITUDE, VOODOO CIRCLE, MASTERPLAN, PAIN OF SALVATION (performing “Remedy Lane” in its entirety), JON OLIVA’S PAIN (performing SAVATAGE’s “Streets: A Rock Opera” in its entirety)
Fan-filmed video footage of MASTERPLAN‘s July 13 performance at the Masters Of Rock festival in Vizovice, Czech Republic can be seen below.
MASTERPLAN‘s new album, “Novum Initium”, was released in Europe on June 14 and in North America on June 18 via AFM Records.
“Novum Initium” track listing:
01. Per Aspera Ad Astra
02. The Game
03. Keep Your Dream Alive
04. Black Night Of Magic
05. Betrayal
06. No Escape
07. Pray On My Soul
08. Earth Is Going Down
09. Return From Avalon
10. Through Your Eyes
11. Novum Initium
12. 1492 (digipack bonus track)
13. Fear The Silence (digipack bonus track)
A photo of MASTERPLAN‘s new lineup can be seen below. Joining guitarist Roland Grapow (ex-HELLOWEEN) are drummer Martin “Marthus” Skaroupka (CRADLE OF FILTH), vocalist Rick Altzi (AT VANCE, SANDALINAS, THUNDERSTONE), who replaces Jorn Lande, and bassist Jari Kainulainen (STRATOVARIUS, SYMFONIA, DEVIL’S TRAIN).
In a recent interview with Metal Shock Finland, Grapow stated about the band’s new CD: “We are not leaving the MASTERPLAN path too much, but everything we have — the melodic part and a little bit progressive — I would say we’re a little bit more powerful and I’m also mixing the album this time. I want to get a little bit more modern, as the sound we have was created ten years ago. We’re still having the typical sound with melodies, but the drummer is amazing and plays a lot of crazy shit!”
Speaking to Myglobalmind, Grapow said about MASTERPLAN‘s numerous personnel shuffles: “I think that it’s basically hard to explain why we always had singer changes. When we started MASTERPLAN with Jorn [Lande], a lot of people had warned me to be careful saying that he was very difficult. That he was never happy or satisfied with things. I think that the only thing that he really was concentrated on was trading on a solo career called JORN. Everything else for him was just a side project; he never saw MASTERPLAN as his main band. It was especially bad for me as I had put so much love, work and so much feeling for this band. I had given everything to make the band big. Jorn never did anything for us for this band. He never even said anything great about MASTERPLAN. That is not nice; you need a really good team behind you which loves this work. It’s the same as a company — if someone is not dedicated totally 100%, it doesn’t matter what a great voice he has. You stay on the same level, but now with a totally different lineup, we have a really big chance of getting further now. We can play live again, and have already played a couple of shows. There are a lot of shows booked, including some festivals, and we are planning a tour in October. That just wasn’t happening for about six years, which was quite terrible, to be honest.”
MASTERPLAN‘s new lineup:
Rick Altzi – vocals Roland Grapow – guitars Axel Mackenrott – keyboards Jari Kainulainen – bass Martin “Marthus” Skaroupka – drums
Mark Dean of Myglobalmind webzine recently conducted an interview with former HELLOWEEN and current MASTERPLAN guitarist Roland Grapow. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
Myglobalmind: Do you think that MASTERPLAN has exceeded the personal expectations that you had when you first started?.
Roland: Especially with the first two albums, I think that we achieved a lot of respect and a lot of surprise from people. Nobody really expected anything so strong from us. I guess even the HELLOWEEN guys didn’t even know when they fired us that maybe we would be just go out of the business. After the first album, I was very happy that we came back with such a powerful return. It was such a big success for that time. Nowadays sales are on the way down every year and there are other problems. We have just released our fifth album and I think that over the years, there has been a stable degree of good quality within the band. There have been some big lineup changes, singer problems… It still sounds like MASTERPLAN for my taste.
Myglobalmind: You referred there briefly to the lineup changes that MASTERPLAN have undergone . Do you find that rotation of the band personalities is necessary for its evolution and development?
Roland: I think that its basically hard to explain why we always had singer changes. When we started MASTERPLAN with Jorn [Lande], a lot of people had warned me to be careful saying that he was very difficult. That he was never happy or satisfied with things. I think that the only thing that he really was concentrated on was trading on a solo career called JORN. Everything else for him was just a side project; he never saw MASTERPLAN as his main band. It was especially bad for me as I had put so much love, work and so much feeling for this band. I had given everything to make the band big. Jorn never did anything for us for this band. He never even said anything great about MASTERPLAN. That is not nice; you need a really good team behind you which loves this work. It’s the same as a company — if someone is not dedicated totally 100%, it doesn’t matter what a great voice he has. You stay on the same level, but now with a totally different lineup, we have a really big chance of getting further now. We can play live again, and have already played a couple of shows. There are a lot of shows booked, including some festivals, and we are planning a tour in October. That just wasn’t happening for about six years, which was quite terrible, to be honest. It is definitely very important to play live. It doesn’t make sense to make great music with people saying, “You are a great band.” If you don’t show yourself, nobody can fully get that feeling. Personally, I need it as well — if there is a band that I really like, but I don’t get to see their live performance, it doesn’t give me that last 30%. I think that is really important to get more closer to the band. Especially sometimes when you think that a song is OK, but if you see that band performance of the song live then you will always remember it. It’s like an imprint on your brain or something. There is also some elements of difference, with the solo parts and some improvising. Sometimes we shorten some things which are too long for the live situation. Or we make parts for the audience to sing along. The next plan in the near future is to make a live album or DVD. MASTERPLAN now have five albums out after 10-12 years so we want to release a DVD or something definitely.
Myglobalmind: Do you then prefer to focus creatively on looking forward to the future, rather than back to the past?
Roland: Sometimes I like to look back, but am more thinking of the future. I am not one of these guys sitting at home thinking back that was such a good time. Of course we had a great time in HELLOWEEN, but also some terrible times. The same is true of MASTERPLAN. However, MASTERPLAN is the kind of band that makes me prouder than HELLOWEEN, even though we did great work in HELLOWEEN. Everything that I am doing now is the result of being a longtime member of this really professional band. We work with Sanctuary, English management. We have toured many times with [IRON] MAIDEN, so we have had good experiences. That really helps you a lot for the future. Definitely that arrangement and also working with great producers, who have really lifted the MASTERPLAN sound.
Read the entire interview from Myglobalmind webzine.
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:
“Novum Initium”, the new album from multinational melodic metallers MASTERPLAN, will be released on May 17 via AFM Records.
The first trailer for the CD can be seen below.
“Novum Initium” track listing:
01. Per Aspera Ad Astra
02. The Game
03. Keep Your Dream Alive
04. Black Night Of Magic
05. Betrayal
06. No Escape
07. Pray On My Soul
08. Earth Is Going Down
09. Return From Avalon
10. Through Your Eyes
11. Novum Initium
12. 1492 (digipack bonus track)
13. Fear The Silence (digipack bonus track)
The “Novum Initium” digipack cover artwork can be seen below.
The band in February filmed a video for the song ” Keep Your Dream Alive” in the Luftverteidigungsbunker Erndtebrück, also called “Bunker Erich.”
A photo of MASTERPLAN‘s new lineup can be seen below. Joining drummer Martin “Marthus” Skaroupka (CRADLE OF FILTH) are vocalist Rick Altzi (AT VANCE, SANDALINAS, THUNDERSTONE), who replaces Jorn Lande, and bassist Jari Kainulainen (STRATOVARIUS, SYMFONIA, DEVIL’S TRAIN).
In a recent interview with Metal Shock Finland, MASTERPLAN guitarist/leader Roland Grapow stated about the band’s new CD: “We are not leaving the MASTERPLAN path too much, but everything we have — the melodic part and a little bit progressive — I would say we’re a little bit more powerful and I’m also mixing the album this time. I want to get a little bit more modern, as the sound we have was created ten years ago. We’re still having the typical sound with melodies, but the drummer is amazing and plays a lot of crazy shit!”
MASTERPLAN‘s new lineup:
Rick Altzi – vocals Roland Grapow – guitars Axel Mackenrott – keyboards Jari Kainulainen – bass Martin “Marthus” Skaroupka – drums
In an August 2011 interview with the Czech web portal Kultura21.cz, Grapow stated about MASTERPLAN‘s numerous lineup changes: “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. But, basically, at the moment, I’m thinking the main songwriters are Axel now and me. 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.
Melodic metallers MASTERPLAN have unveiled the artwork for their new album, Novum Initium, due for release on April 26th via AFM Records on CD, limited digipak and limited vinyl. Novum Initium is the band’s follow-up to their 2010 release, Time To Be King. The artwork can be seen below:
Joining mainstay guitarist Roland Grapow (ex-HELLOWEEN) in MASTERPLAN‘s lineup are vocalist Rick Altzi (AT VANCE, SANDALINAS, THUNDERSTONE), who replaces Jorn Lande, new drummer Martin “Marthus” Skaroupka (CRADLE OF FILTH), bassist Jari Kainulainen (ex-STRATOVARIUS, SYMPHONIA) and keybordist Axel Mackenrott.
About the new material, Grapow told Metalshockfinland.com recently: ““We are not leaving the Masterplan path too much, but everything we have – the melodic part and a little bit progressive, I would say we’re a little bit more powerful and I’m also mixing the album this time. I want to get a little bit more modern, as the sound we have was created ten years ago. I’m really looking forward to presenting a new band and a new start with Masterplan. We’re still having the typical sound with melodies, but the drummer is amazing and plays a lot of crazy shit! The music is first, then comes the creative stuff like artwork.“
THE ROCK ALCHEMIST – Italian Rock Band from Turin with a strong sonic identity that blends modern rock with progressive, hard, alternative, and pop elements!
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s SARCOFAGUS return with a Historic 2010 Concert Video Premiere on YouTube! Click image to watch the video
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 