Masterplan – Time To Be King

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Initially the new project from former Helloween members Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch (who has since left), Masterplan developed into an important power metal band in their own right due in no small part to the vocal contributions of Jørn Lande, who returns after a five-year absence. Time To Be King is their strongest album to date, achieving an epic feel in almost every track, even though the longest is just six-minutes, and feels like it’s over too quickly. Many of the tracks, like The Black One which opts against a conventional fade-out and keeps going at full-tilt until the end, feels longer than it really is at just over four minutes, and as all of the great albums over the years have managed, the whole thing flows as a complete work and is a clear piece of evidence for the case of the album as a single entity, rather than a collection of tracks. One or two are a little too generic, like Blow Your Winds, everything else covers all of the ground the best power metal albums do, from crushing heaviness, to groove riffs, speed, delicacy, intricacy and wailing, catchy choruses. More so than on their previous three albums, this time Masterplan have made their most complete record, bringing together everything that was good about their other material, and sacrificing nothing in terms of emotion (Lande’s vocals are as passionate as they’ve ever been) or impact. Time To Be King is a simply magnificent record.

Written by Andy Lye
More: 2010, Albums, Power Metal, Quick.Play Reviews, Masterplan