Masterplan’s latest offering arrives after a staggering 13-year studio hiatus, a surprising timeline considering the band’s lineup has remained remarkably intact in the meantime. Masterminded by veteran guitarist Roland Grapow (ex-Helloween), the group debuted in the early 2000s as a formidable supergroup, boasting two former Helloween members and the legendary Jørn Lande, among others.
After a string of highly inspired releases, like the classic self-titled debut, lineup changes and a loss of momentum forced the band into a prolonged dormancy and while 2017’s “Pumpkings” (a re-recording of Grapow’s Helloween-era contributions) served as a logical solution to bridge the release gap, it was perceived by some critics as an uninspired cash-in.
Thus enters “Metalmorphosis”, an album tasked with the unenviable dual burden of carrying a proud legacy while reintroducing the band to the modern metal landscape after over a decade away.
The album opens with “Chase the Light” hinting at the band’s immense potential, harkening back to their glorious beginnings in a highly satisfying manner. While it breaks no new ground, it executes its traditional power metal formula exceptionally well, highlighted by a stellar, technical guitar solo from Grapow.
“Electric Nights” is a driving melodic hard rocker that, while not exactly setting the world on fire, possesses enough power, drive, and hook-heavy momentum to confidently pull through.
“Shadow Man” shifts into a darker sonic tone, and features an incredibly inspired chorus, easily one of the finest on the record. This melodic payoff allows the song to succeed despite its mid-tempo pace, keeping the album firmly on track.
“Bound to Fall” boasts a superb chorus that wouldn’t feel out of place on a classic Helloween record, albeit with a slightly different instrumental arrangement, surrounding it. It features an excellent guitar solo, but its tempo dangerously compounds the record’s growing mid-pace fatigue.
“Pain of Yesterday” opens with some tasteful Eastern-influenced instrumentation, but unfortunately underdelivers. Despite its theatrical aspirations and a passionate vocal performance from Rick Altzi, the composition fails to resolve in a meaningful way, leaving a spectacular Grapow solo feeling somewhat wasted in the mix.
The title track, “Metalmorphosis”, captures the band attempting to shed their old skin for a more contemporary sound. The modern electronic intro hints at a stylized direction akin to Dynazty (a welcome prospect, mind you) but the song ultimately devolves into mid-tempo Masterplan theatrics that fail to make any real leeway. Grapow’s solo remains the sole captivating element, as the surrounding track falls by the wayside.
“Through the Storm” begins with an intriguing string arrangement, but quickly shifts gears as ‘His Grapowness’ unleashes some of the fiercest riffs on the album, initially channelling prime-era Running Wild. The song soon develops its own identity, using sheer speed, an uplifting chorus and another inspired solo to single-handedly rescue the album from the stagnant mid-tempo territory of the previous tracks.
“Ghostlight” is way heavier on synth textures. It features cool, wailing guitar riffs, a decent solo and a highly standard chorus formula. However, despite its relatively modest runtime, the composition inexplicably drags, managing to sound nearly twice as long as it actually is.
Which bring us to “The Call”, an ambitious progressive metal piece that actually boasts some great individual elements, including top-tier solos and fascinating musical ideas. Unfortunately, in its quest for epic length, the band succumbs to a classic performance anxiety: they overextend themselves to prove they can go the distance, but the stamina doesn’t match the satisfaction. As the saying goes, it isn’t the size of the track that matters, but what you do with it, and the piano-laden midsection (“we sail to babylon…”) suffers from awkward (vocal) lines that frankly should have pulled out early and stayed on the (cutting room) floor.
Thankfully, “Rise Again”, which was originally released as a standalone single in 2024, is a bit of a triumphant anthem that closes the album on an exceptionally high, melodic, and fiercely metallic note.
Given its extensive gestation period, “Metalmorphosis” could have benefited from a bit more polish. A tighter curation process could have easily eliminated a few low-balling tracks that significantly mar the overall effort and ruin the album’s pacing. Ultimately, it is a fair, decent comeback record, one bogged down by a couple of embarrassingly weak moments, but salvaged by an equal number of brilliant saving graces.
