ALBUM REVIEW: The Legend Of The Six Kings – Frozen Crown
If anyone wanders into this record having mistaken it for a new FROZEN SOUL album, they’ll be gone almost immediately. The introduction might be the most shamelessly power metal kick-off of the year. A warp speed guitar melody quickly leads into singer Giada ‘Jade’ Etro howling the song title and holding the note long enough to make opera singers envious, and there’s more cheese than the entire Wallace & Gromit back catalogue, all within the first twenty seconds. Any confused death metallers will have clicked out before Lightning In The Sky reaches the halfway point, but anyone who sticks around to hear the rest of the album will have a right old time.
FROZEN CROWN (not SOUL) might not be a household name, but they’ve been treading the boards for years now and are very good at what they do. They’re another shining example of Italy’s rich but under-appreciated power metal scene, and their sixth album is a joy. It’s almost a shame it’s shown up in Autumn, as The Legend Of The Six Kings is vibrant, effervescent music and it’s got a wealth of choruses that are custom made for packed European festival fields.
Tracks like the glorious Through The Fire are fist-in-the-air crowd pleasers, packed full of audience participation moments and high energy guitar riffs. They’re also comparatively short; the majority of these tracks are less than four minutes long and seem determined to get to the chorus fast. Theoretically, this is a darker album than their previous efforts, but you wouldn’t guess it. FROZEN CROWN at their grimmest are still a huge ray of sunshine, and The Legend Of The Six Kings is consistently entertaining.
Except for the cover of Iris. Showing up halfway through, this retooling of THE GOO GOO DOLLS hit is a major misstep and disrupts a lot of the momentum. It’s faster and more energetic than the original, but it’s still a sappy and distracting number that feels distinctly out of place against the high fantasy backdrop of the rest of the album. As a bonus track it would be fine, but as the exact midway point, it’s more like an interruption.
And that’s a shame because when they stick to their own material, FROZEN CROWN are terrific. Who Wants To Burn In Heaven is an instant earworm that brings to mind armies marching off to war, Reborn is a sword waving adventure turned into a song, and Winter Hearts is like taking part in a cavalry charge while going through a sugar rush. The closing title track might even be the best cut on here, a rare appearance of harsh vocals ratcheting up the intensity before it turns into an epic finale.
One misplaced cover aside, there’s not really any complaints we can level at The Legend Of The Six Kings. It’s very much a genre piece, and it won’t sway the opinion of anyone who thinks power metal is for nerds. But, if you’re of the view that the best metal would make you want to pick up a claymore and charge headlong into an Uruk Hai war band, try spending some time with FROZEN CROWN.
Rating: 8/10
The Legend of the Six Kings is out now via Napalm Records.
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