PumpKings

PumpKings is a special record on which Roland Grapow re-recorded, with Masterplan's then-current lineup, the songs he wrote during his time in Helloween. The eleven tracks, written between 1990 and 2000, have their originals on five albums: Pink Bubbles Go Ape, Chameleon, Master of the Rings, The Time of the Oath and The Dark Ride. Released on AFM in July 2017. The title is a pun on Helloween's pumpkin. Rather than merely tracing the old material, re-illuminating it with the voice, sonic weight and arrangement sense of the recording moment lets you register how Masterplan has changed. More than differences of tempo or key, the current band shows in how choruses are layered, how far back the guitar sits, and how the rhythm settles. Rick Altzi's singing and the drums of Kevin Kott, who joined in 2016, are fresh too. If you know the originals, look for what's been re-emphasized, not just nostalgia. Grapow says the overlap with Helloween's reunion tour that year was coincidence — an intriguing record for reading how he sorts through his own history.