PumpKings

• Track Listing

2017 release. Pumpkings is a special one for band leader Roland Grapow, because it shows the man revisiting his Helloween past. PumpKings includes 11 songs which Roland contributed to Helloween's rich legacy during his time in the band. These songs have been re-recorded by Masterplan's current line-up. "The idea for this project was born more than three years ago", Grapow recalls. "I'm proud of the songs, but these days I'd do certain things a bit different. So it was an easy decision to re-record them with Masterplan now. It took quite a while to come up with the album because I was busy with other productions in my studio and in addition we had just released our Keep Your Dream aLive DVD with Masterplan in the Fall of 2015, so there was no reason to rush things." The 11 tracks featured on PumpKings were written by Roland from 1990 - 2000 and can be found on Helloween's albums Pink Bubbles Go Ape, Chameleon, Master Of The Rings, The Time Of The Oath and The Dark Ride in their original versions. Some of them were even released as singles and rank among Helloween fan favorites. "Our new versions of the songs are heavier definitely", Roland says. "It would have been pointless to just reproduce the tracks exactly as they were back then. But I feel that with our new take on it, the different vocals and overall more rough attitude, PumpKings could be an interesting thing for both Masterplan- and Helloween fans. However, it was great fun to revisit this very important phase of my career - like meeting old friends."