Guitarist Roland Grapow and drummer Ulli Kusch were with the German melodic metal band Helloween until autumn 2001. Jan S. Eckert used to be the bassist of Iron Savior from Hamburg. Keyboarder Axel Mackenrott called attention as a member of various cover bands such as "Catch The Rainbow" (Rainbow cover band), "Machine Head" (Deep Purple cover band) and with his own band "Punch TV". Vocalist Jorn Lande has made a name for himself world-wide as frontman with Ark and Jorn, among others. Together these five musicians make up Masterplan, a band that have drawn attention to themselves even before the arrival of their debut album.
Masterplan's brand-new material is more than a mere mishmash of different influences brought in by five individual musicians; it has a distinct outline and stylistic definition based on the precise visions of the three main song writers, Grapow, Lande and Kusch, who have found the perfect vocalist for their contemporary metal tracks in Jorn. Numbers like "Spirit Never Die", "Kind Hearted Light", "Crystal Night" or "When Love Comes Close" have a classical-traditional thread running through them, combining modern rhythms with intricate guitar parts and melodic vocals. Collectively, the songs forge an invisible arch that stretches from the beginnings of rock music to the very topical present and are marked by the band members' accomplished technical skills.
Sometimes even human beings can learn to fly.
Renounced from difficult times in the past which every one of them definitely went through, Jorn Lande from Frederikstad/Norway (vocals, formerly Ark), Roland Grapow from Hamburg/Germany (guitars, formerly Helloween) and Uli Kusch from Aachen/Germany (drums, formerly Helloween) have found together with Jan S. Eckert (bass, Iron Savior) and Axel Mackenrott (keyboards), to reach for the stars.
Having plenty of charisma and the special magic of teamwork on board, with their second album Aeronautics - being released on January 24th - Masterplan invite us to an artistic flight: timeless and yet exactly right for this here and now. A flight, which doesn 't appear in the shape of a full concept album, but which is all about the fascination of flying. And which, for the territory of melodic metal, will definitely define a new measure.
No doubt, already the self-titled debut-album could gain highest respect among fans and journalists. But with Aeronautics Masterplan will fly even closer to the sun. Aeronautics unites the powerful and fascinating way of writing songs and melodies that Roland and Uli have learned by heart combined with the artisticly melodic school of AOR that Jorn has gone through. Aeronautics gives you everything - from purely bombastic songs like Crimson Rider, over powerful hymns like Wounds or epic journeys like Black In The Burn up to very sensitive tracks full of atmosphere such as Back For My Life. Aeronautics therefore is, full of different shades and yet unique, an album flying on the highest level of quality. It somehow became the personality's profile of a very noted trio, which could constantly improve since Masterplan has been born,. Standstill has never been a well-known thing for Jorn, Roland and Uli, Masterplan's three creative pilots. Gathering experiences for them is just the one thing - the more important one is learning how to use these experiences. "You have to allow yourself making experiences", Roland Grapow exactly knows. "The older I get, the more aware I am of that." The technical formular for that is quite easy: Experiences allow progression, and progression means to see the music-world from a bird's perspective. "This includes the technical progression, which definitely happened over the years, as well", Roland explains.
But for Roland and his bandmembers progression not only happens on a technical level. For them it includes the personal development as well. "Years ago it was my biggest aim, to be as good as possible in playing guitar", Roland has recognized. "Today my personal aims are going much deeper. I try to be the best songwriter, bandmember, teamworker and mastermind I can - all at the same time. If you only look at yourself and your instrument, you easily forget that a song can only be a good song if it comes to be a teamwork's result."
When Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch make up their Masterplan in 2002, and have Jorn, Jan and Axel joining in, they can only hope that their idea of teamworking can be realised. What they definitely can't foresee in these days is, how much energy they are able to set free with their debut. Already their first album, released in January 2003, beams them up into the sky of the successful - with high speed! An up-following tour together with Hammerfall can even expanse this success. In February 2004 the European Commission presents the band the official "European Border Breakers"-award for being Germany`s best selling newcomer outside of Germany. An award, which doesn 't found on the opinion of some jury members, but which proves the high amount of sold CDs instead.
With their second release Aeronautics the band impressively shows that they can fly further into the direction they have already chosen with their first album. Full of different shades, atmospheres, new impressions, typical personal handwriting and artistic beauty - Masterplan could achieve a true masterpiece. Welcome to the world of true progression. Welcome on board of Aeronautics.