Uli Kusch

Uli Kusch — German drummer born in 1967 — is a co-founder of Masterplan and one of European power metal's most influential drummers, above all for his work in Helloween. He joined Helloween in 1994 and played the phase that rebuilt the band after difficult years: Master of the Rings (1994), The Time of the Oath (1996), Better Than Raw (1998) and The Dark Ride (2000). Besides playing he wrote — several of that period's best-known songs carry his signature. Before that he had passed through Gamma Ray and Holy Moses, which gives the measure of his circulation in the German scene. In 2001 he and guitarist Roland Grapow were dismissed from Helloween. The two answered by putting together Masterplan with Jørn Lande on vocals — and the debut, Masterplan (2003), is now regarded as one of the best German melodic metal albums of the decade, heavier and darker than the power metal being made at the time. Kusch stayed until 2006, also recording Aeronautics (2005), and then withdrew from the stage for health reasons. His mark is that of a drummer combining power metal's force with thrash's precision — and who wrote music, a rare function among drummers in the genre.