It’s only been 18 months since Frozen Crown last brought out an album but these guys just seem to hate staying out of the studio. Since first bursting onto the scene in 2017, the Milan power metal six-piece have released five records in seven years with a work rate firing on all cylinders.
The opening title track ‘War Hearts’ pulls no punches and you don’t even get a chance to blink as it’s full speed ahead. No one’s successfully managed to go faster than light but Frozen Crown might just be on the verge of achieving the impossible. Drummer Niso Tomasini takes firm control of the supersonic machine with ruthless blast beats and double kick that only sheer practice can sustain for long bursts. You can perceive how hard he’s worked on perfecting his technique as the fills between tempo changes sound smooth and clearly signal what comes next.
Until now, we had been treated with the magnificent guitar duo of Federico Mondelli and Fabiola Bellomo but this time there’s a pleasant surprise. Folks, please welcome Alessia Lanzone. Together, the three of them act like the engine of War Hearts throughout by producing some outrageously infectious harmonies that sound like your stereotypical dragon-slaying fairytale. Not to mention some insane call and response solos which would’ve gotten a smile of approval from Iron Maiden and Helloween.
Giada Etro delivers the vocal performance of a lifetime, singing her heart out like a bird of paradise releasing its loudest mating call to impress their counterpart. Lyrics shine a light on how unity brings strength and courage to fight in the face of adversity “We came here as strangers in the storm, now we rule as sovereigns dressed in gold”. The album cover itself seems to echo that message with warriors joining forces to defeat a greater evil. When you combine the video setting of castle ruins on the highlands with her falsetto belting in a major key, you can tell that she was made for this genre, depicting a figure of a fearless knight sent out by their king to bring back the promised land.
‘Steel and Gold’ might be a slower track but Frozen Crown refuse to take their foot off the gas as they keep up the nerd levels of complexity. While fighting against your enemies, this song focuses on themes of absolute loyalty. No matter the cost, warriors will fearlessly sacrifice themselves in honour of their leader “To the throne we fight for, pledging our soul to the king”. The music video is also set in a castle with Giada not holding back in releasing her bombastic battle cries ringing out like bugle horns sounding the green light to march on towards victory. In a way, you can actually imagine each instrument making the sound of each weapon such as guitars being swords clashing against each other while drums replicate cannon fire.
For the next five tracks, speed prevails and Frozen Crown couldn’t care less if you keep up or not. ‘Night of The Wolf’ and ‘Edge of Reality’ are the fastest with tempos smashing the 200bpm barrier. Niso hammers away at his kit as endurance levels hit an all-time high, thanks to steel muscles that can withstand long periods of 16th-note patterns. It’s at this point that you can hear his soul set free because playing without feeling the need to beat up the kit shows how composure and control have taken over.
Federico, Fabiola and Alessia all go into a shred frenzy, exchanging solos neater than driver swaps in a 24-hour Le Mans race with transitions between each musician as precise as Shinkansen bullet train punctuality. Similar to jazz bands having that sixth sense of when it’s someone’s time to shine and how long their sections should be, they’ve mastered that art and made it an enjoyable trademark of theirs.
The orchestral backing tracks also nicely fit in with the adventurous sounding melodies, bringing Frozen Crown’s key themes of legends and fantasies to life. Add that to Giada’s passionate vocals and it’s like you’re living in video games such as Fable, Assassins Creed or Skyrim. However, these symphonic elements often get lost in the mix, especially when other instruments are going at full blast during choruses. Therefore, you need to have good headphones on to tell them apart.
While War Hearts is a solid album overall, some challenges do arise. For instance, not all solos do a song justice. ‘Night of The Wolf’ was too stop-start with several fills breaking up the flow of what could’ve been an amazing, long-shred fest in DragonForce or Rhapsody of Fire style and ‘On Silver Wings’ has an obscure breakdown crying out for a solo. Considering that it was the happiest sounding tune of the album with lots of uplifting vibes, it deserved something to fill in that gap.
It’s a great effort from Frozen Crown and to bring out that many albums at this stage in their career is a sign that you are confident enough to produce high quality material on a consistent basis. My only concern is that autopilot could catch up to them if this pattern continues but that remains to be seen.
War Hearts was released on October 18th 2024 via Napalm Records.
