Up-and-coming Italian power metal unit FROZEN CROWN is gearing up to unleash its new studio album and Napalm Records debut, War Hearts, out October 18, 2024. The fresh 10 track offering marks their first as a six-piece band, capturing the essence of FROZEN CROWN’s dynamic sound brimming with powerful riffs, unforgettable melodies, and raw energy. Guitarist Federico Mondelli tells us his biggest influences and the essential Frozen Crown songs to hear.
INFLUENCES:
Yngwie Malmsteen “Never Die”
It’s very hard to choose just one Malmsteen song. We consciously and unconsciously paid tribute to his music too many times (yeah, the “No, no!” on our song “Far Beyond,” totally ripped from “I’ll See The Light Tonight,” was conscious). Anyway we think the soaring, angry, and fast opening track from The Seventh Sign deserves a mention. This track, unfairly overshadowed in popularity by Yngwie’s most famous hit songs, is one of the most explosive openers ever, and the sole reason why I’m obsessed with writing fast songs with high pitched vocals and neoclassical inspired guitar riffs.
Sonata Arctica “Wolf and Raven”
As a young metalhead, I consumed Ecliptica and Silence, two of the best power metal albums ever released, with some of the finest vocal lines ever written. “Wolf and Raven” makes no exception, and it was absolutely a favorite of mine. Not just for the speed and for the sharp beautiful melodies, but also for the lyrical themes. Back when music was mostly listened to in the dark of your room, with no visualizers or videos or whatever, these lyrics were turning on my imagination, as I was getting lost in a dark fantasy world populated by wolves, crows, swords, kings, and thrones. Now that I mentioned these words, try to go through Frozen Crown lyrics and see how much obsessed I became with them.
Angra “Nothing to Say”
The quintessential power metal song, perfect in every single detail. I tried to play that incredible intro riff thousands and thousands of times during my childhood, and I never managed to play it so tight, clean and with that same groove. That riff was so iconic it almost overshadowed the pristine, unbelievable guitar solo. This song influenced my songwriting so much, being extremely catchy and, while incredibly technical, never too busy to the point it could overshadow melody.
ESSENTIALS:
“War Hearts”
The first song we wrote for War Hearts is definitely the one I would suggest to someone who never listened to Frozen Crown before. As an opener, it’s a statement of what you can expect from the rest of the album—power and speed, of course, but also empowering melodies and bright, cheerful lyrics. This song also officially marks the inclusion of Alessia, our new guitar player, in the band. She’s the first one to make her appearance in the solo section, with a soaring guitar solo written and recorded with such mastery and confidence you would never tell she’s actually 18 years old.
“Steel and Gold”
This song runs at a slower pace than “War Hearts,” but still brings all the pivotal Frozen Crown elements together. Listening again to this song I can notice how the verse melody is very reminiscent of Angra (that “never surrender” brings me back exactly to “Nothing to Say” I mentioned above), but also has something coming from Freedom Call’s second album, as well as a ton of HammerFall influences. I would define this song as romantic and epic, and strongly influenced by Sonata Arctica lyrically. This is also the first song in the album where our three guitar arrangements stand out. In the bridge, for example, you can listen to the low seven string guitar riff followed by the second and third guitar harmonizing it before the first guitar solo is unleashed.
“I Am the Tyrant”
Our most popular song, ironically is a slow one in a discography mostly filled with very fast tracks. I take the lead vocalist role in this song (back in the days I didn’t want to overshadow Jade as a frontwoman, and that’s the reason why I wore a mask in the videoclip), and I even indulge in some growling in the middle part. This song is a must in all our live shows, with its super catchy hook and the monolithic main guitar riff. The song “I Am the Wind” included in our new album War Hearts is the spiritual successor of this song (and it also brings back the story lyric-wise).
