Two years after their stunning debut the Masters have Plan number two ready and once again they have thought out something fresh and intriguing. Let me just start out by saying that this doesn't reach the sky-high quality of the debut, but that was also almost impossible.
We are dealing with the same competent musicians and the production is once again very professional, the album has a certain transparent, slick and yet powerful feel to it.
Some of the best elements on Aeronautics:
- First off the keyboard is used very intelligently and in the right doses, as in
Crimson Rider were it fittingly build up tension and adds complexity, or take
Falling Sparrow that gets a mystic dark shrouded atmosphere thanks to some cool underlying key arrangements.
- Wounds: Simply put this is a fantastic cut, overly melodic and sparkling with that special positive
Masterplan vibe of finding inner strength to face a new tomorrow, a great and easily identifiable lyric.
- Another favourite is the mid-tempo creation
I'm Not Afraid, massive bass grooves and
Jorn's expressive voice makes very positive impressions here. Uli's eccentric drumming also lift this one an inch higher and when you take the drumming up for a closer listen throughout the record, it will unveil tons of technicality and smart innovations.
- The extremely heavy and thick rhythm guitar work featured in the catchy
Headbanger's Ballroom is an element I have come to enjoy more and more with time, not to mention the thrilling solo.
- Roland throws in more than one creative solo spot, another is found in
Falling Sparrow having a wild and intense nature.
- Black In The Burn is the album closer with a playing time of nearly 10 minutes and here I must give the band credit for engaging in such an ambitious and quite progressive composition, it was exactly a step like this I was hoping they would dare to take.
This powerful journey is a real ass kicker and clearly the album's zenith with ultra fast double bass drumming, a monster guitar lick (setting in with full force at 6:33), spectacular and elaborate piano tunes and a great illuminating chorus line all worked into a fascinating succession.
- I would also like to add that
Jorn does a great job in bringing these quite good lyrics (the love for the Metal genre and dealing with deep sorrow to name a few) to life with his characteristic raw and vigorous vocal style.
Reasons why it doesn't reach a higher altitude:
- The bass gets a bit lost from time to time in the tight wall of sound; its well played but could have been giving a more participating role.
- A couple of songs lack that memorable element, intense passages or super cool drive to lift them to the next level. A song like
Dark From The Dying never really develops and becomes quite unexciting in spite of a great calm guitar solo.
-
After This War is in all fairness a pretty decent song thanks to a cool mellow atmosphere, sadly the chorus gets dragged out too far and the structure is also a bit predictable.
- I find all 10 songs enjoyable even though the excellent average result and huge amount of catchy ingredients from the debut is not fully reached.
I'm already looking forward to see what they will come up with next time; they have certainly created their own special niche taking a Metal nucleus and built an intriguing and explosive formula.
This should speak to a wide audience, being a very compact and comprehensive collection of cool Heavy Metal.
Written by
Tommy Sunday, March 6, 2005
Show all reviews by TommyRatingsTommy: 7.5/10Members: No members have rated this album yet.
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