Frozen Crown – War Hearts

I didn’t think I’d end up writing this, but the new Frozen Crown album is actually very good. Power metal isn’t exactly my go-to genre. I often cringe at the clichéd lyrics and repetitive topics, and I just can’t really take the genre’s usual tropes and aesthetics seriously. The vocal style is often not to my liking either. There are exceptions of course. I could enjoy some Ancient Bards, Unleash the Archers and I also got a bit into Falconer‘s earlier work. But things like Pathfinder, Twilight Force or Gloryhammer always leave me somewhat indifferent, if not even slightly annoyed. I think the more forced and gimmicky it comes across, the harder it is for me to get into it.

Enter Frozen Crown, and their new album “War Hearts“, which by all expectation shouldn’t click with me. Based on the artwork, song titled and medieval warrior aesthetic, I’d normally be expecting a total cringe fest. But for some reason, a few singles from their previous album, “Call of the North“, have been sneaking their way into my playlists, so when this new album dropped, I decided to give them a chance. And truth be told, I really it. I’m not exactly sure why that is, because they do use most of the tropes that I usually find irritating, but they somehow work. Something clicked for me when I was watching the video to the title track, ‘War Hearts’ and all of a sudden, instead of coming across as “power metal”, I felt like I was just witnessing some brilliant songwriting. So let’s try to figure out what that’s all about.

Frozen Crown – War Hearts

As previously stated, the typical power metal tropes are there. That means ludicrously fast shredding, big majestic and over-the-top melodies, ridiculously fast tempos, looooooots of double bass, and mostly high belting vocals with a ton of energy. The riffs are often a combination of galloping, super fast alternate picking and endless runs. Sometimes the tempo slows down enough to include some chuggy down picking sections, but that is actually not common (‘Bloodlines’, ‘I Am The Wind’). But here’s what’s interesting. They have 3 guitarists now. What that means is that the guitar sound is very rich and vibrant, making the overall sound more lush and epic on certain sections. This is most noticeable on the intro to ‘Steel and Gold’ which kicks off with the chorus but only using vocals and guitars. Having 3 guitarists also means that there’s hardly ever a single guitar line to follow. Most of the time there are layers of harmonization and lead melodies sprinkled through the songs, even during the chorus and under the verses, making everything feel like it has a theme (‘Edge of Reality’, ‘Ice Dragon’). I suppose this makes the songs feel more memorable and less like they’re all about the shredding and show-off.

Frozen Crown – Steel and Gold

But the shredding and show off is obviously thrown in there in obscenely massive amounts, because as previously stated, there are 3 guitarists, and ALL OF THEM are hyperactive when it comes to solos. That means that in almost each song, the bridge section will consist of a ridiculously unnecessary bombardment of too many notes per second. But unnecessary doesn’t always mean bad. The insane shredding itself doesn’t add much to the compositional value, but the way it’s integrated in the songs is actually really cool. The solo sections sometimes kick off from a familiar theme, like a main guitar line or even the chorus line, or they may return to it from time to time. They also vary between moments of shredding and melodic engaging moments. And this last part may sound strange but a huge reason why the solo sections stay interesting is the drummer and rhythm section. The fact that there isn’t a single background beat, but variations in groove, tendencies to match the pace of the solos to accentuate key moments, and all sorts of starting and stopping going on in the background, makes the solo sections a lot more interesting. They feel less like a show of technique and more like a coherent use of that technique. The background details also tend to create feelings of tension and release or ebb and flow, making the solos sound like an intentional journey from A to B moving across the changing landscape of the riffs in the background. The best song to display all this coming together is certainly ‘To Live To Die’.

Frozen Crown – To Live to Die

At this point, I’d probably still be skeptical about this album. They made the genre work better for me than it usually does, but I also like some variation in my music, and all songs up until track 7, ‘Bloodline’, follow more or less the same formula. But then there’s another silver lining. ‘I Am The Wind’ is actually a more steady track with a slower tempo and more mid-range vocals. It feels less exciting and more narrative. After 7 songs of flat out running, it’s a breath of fresh air. And the chorus line is brilliant, catchy, but not too cheesy. Then there’s a cinematic interlude with medieval vibes, followed by an epic, grandiose album closer with more variation and gravitas than the entire rest of the album had up until that point. On ‘Ice Dragon’ we get soft acoustic guitar sections, more use of background orchestration, beautiful vocal layering and engaging rhythms, with a lot more tom rolling and headbanging patterns coming from the drums. There’s even a blast beat on the first chorus, and a blast beat is always a good sign. Also, for a bassist to playing in a band with 3 guitars, Finding some spots to shine must be difficult, but this song even does that, leaving a moment for the bass and cinematic elements to take the spotlight for a bit.

There’s one thing left to tackle, and that is vocals. Singer Giada “Jade” Etro is fully focused on belting and hyped up energy for most of the album. One thing I found surprising is that, as far as I can tell, she sings almost the entire album in chest voice, with hardly any use of falsetto, and that says a lot given that these are power metal vocal lines she has to go through. That’s a lot of high notes and not a lot of space to breathe (well, except during the solo sections). But on the last couple of songs, as the energy and emotion changes, so does her singing, stepping into a more contained and moody approach. On these songs, guitarist Federico Mondelli adds his vocals as well, which diversifies the vocal palette and allows for the soundscape to get slightly more epic. The last song really takes you on a bit of a journey.

Frozen Crown – I Am the Wind

So what can we make of all this? Is it that Frozen Crown writes better songs than 90% of the power metal bands out there? Is it that having the rich sound of 3 guitars comes across epic enough to drown the potential for cringe? Is it that if you believe in your gimmick enough, you can sell it even to the most skeptical of listeners? Or is it just that I found out I like power metal, and just haven’t been paying enough attention to the genre to begin with? I don’t really know at this point. Guess I’ll have to give a few bands some second chances. But what I do know, is that I warmly recommend Frozen Crown’s latest album, “War Hearts”.

Track List:

1. War Hearts (04:35)
2. Steel and Gold (04:07)
3. To Live to Die (03:41)
4. Night of the Wolf (04:09)
5. On Silver Wings (04:07)
6. Edge of Reality (04:12)
7. Bloodlines (04:05)
8. I Am the Wind (04:33)
9. King of the Sky (01:29)
10. Ice Dragon (07:37)