Power metal legends MASTERPLAN have announced their long-awaited new album "Metalmorphosis," due May 22 via Frontiers Music Srl, and released the lead single "Chase The Light" with an accompanying music video that signals a triumphant return for one of the genre's most respected acts. The record marks the band's first full set of new material since 2013's "Novum Initium," ending a thirteen-year studio drought that left fans wondering if the group would ever reconvene.
MASTERPLAN formed in 2001 as a supergroup of sorts, built around guitarist Roland Grapow and drummer Uli Kusch, both of whom departed HELLOWEEN during one of the legendary power metal band's most turbulent periods. Their self-titled 2003 debut was hailed as a power metal masterpiece, combining Grapow's melodic yet heavy guitar work with soaring vocal performances and the kind of epic songwriting that defined the European power metal golden age.
Grapow described the new single as "a dark and aggressive track about fear, control, and a world that feeds on pain," suggesting a more mature and weighty thematic direction compared to the band's earlier, more fantastical lyrical territory. He added that the album title "Metalmorphosis" captures the band's transformation over the years while staying true to the spirit of MASTERPLAN — a balance between evolution and identity that few power metal acts manage to achieve.
The music video for "Chase The Light" showcases the band performing with renewed intensity, with Grapow's guitar tone sounding heavier and more textured than on previous records. The production quality suggests that the years away have been spent refining rather than resting, with every note and arrangement carefully considered.
"Metalmorphosis" arrives during a period of renewed interest in classic European power metal, with festivals like Wacken, Hellfest, and Masters of Rock consistently booking acts from the genre's golden era alongside newer bands carrying the torch. MASTERPLAN's return adds another heavyweight name to what is shaping up to be an extraordinary year for the genre.