I’m of the personal opinion that Frozen Crown’s previous release “Crowned In Frost” from 2019 was an absolute gem of a Power Metal album. Stamping their own identity on the genre with only their second release was a feat in itself and after a little time away from the band doing other projects including the excellent Volturian, guitarist and main songwriter Frederico Mondelli once more teams up with vocal powerhouse Glada “Jade” Etro to again pummel us with another splendid raft of Power Metal anthems. Aside from those two, there has been some line-up changes – the fabulous guitarist Talia Bellazecca has been replaced by the equally fabulous Fabiola “Sheena” Bellomo, with the rhythm section now being handled just as admirably by Francesco Zof and Niso Tomasini on bass and drums respectively.
An immediate change to the previous album is the lack of a grandiose intro – the album comes crashing in full of intention with the Iron Maiden-tinged opener ‘Embrace The Night’, which of course suits Glada Etro perfectly and I’m sure there will be plenty of her wonderful trade-mark Dickinson-esque arm waving going on when they are allowed to batter an audience with this track in the live arena. This seems to set the scene for the majority of the album as it actually takes the band until the third track ‘Far Beyond’ before they unleash the more frantic speedy delivery that was so evident on “Crowned In Frost”, which they of course do incredibly well. This time around it appears the band have realised that the excellent musicianship, enthralling melody lines and enticing vocal hooks have plenty enough gravitas to carry each song without trying to play them at a more manic pace. There’s still plenty of galloping drums and bass to please any Power Metal devotee, but there is also more variation this time around, with the songs maybe having a hint more depth and weight to them.
Etro tends to twin herself vocally a little more on “Winterbane”, with Mondelli feeling less of a need to double things up himself, although he does of course get to flex his pipes plenty throughout the album. Talking of vocals, Frederica Lanna, singer from the aforementioned Volturian returns the favour of Etro’s guest appearance on her album, by adding her talents to ‘Angels In Disguise’. There’s an abundance of lip-smacking lead guitar moments for the listener to enjoy on every track and I haven’t even mentioned the striking cover of Judas Priest’s ‘Night Crawler’. So a little like one of their nearest comparisons Unleash The Archers, Frozen Crown have also chosen to reel in the speed a little this time around, but equally like UTA, the songs and overall sound of the album remain as rich, interesting and fulfilling as previously displayed. Another excellent slab of Heavy/Power Metal from this creative Italian Metal band at the top of their game.
(9/10 Andy Barker)
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