Metal
Napalm Records · 2 October 2026
The title track of “The Legend of the Six Kings” runs four minutes fifty-one and is the longest of the ten. Behind it nothing gets past four: “Who Wants to Burn in Heaven” stops at three fifty-seven, “Lightning in the Sky” at three thirty, “Through the Fire” at three two. The whole record is thirty-six minutes seven. Frozen Crown came out of Milan in 2017 and this is their sixth album in eight years; it was released on 2 October, the second Napalm have put out for them after “War Hearts” (18 October 2024), the first four having been on Scarlet.
Inside that format the division of labour is clear. Giada Etro’s voice carries the melodies and Federico Mondelli handles second vocals, keyboards and one of the three guitars; the other two belong to Alessia Lanzone, who joined in 2023, and Aleksandra Stamenković — Alexandra Lioness, of Jenner — who replaced Fabiola Bellomo in May 2025, with Francesco Zof on bass and Niso Tomasini on drums. “The One” (three twelve) was the first advance, on 24 June; “Reborn” (three thirty-three) followed on 28 July and “Who Wants to Burn in Heaven” on 26 August. Three singles of three and a half minutes to announce a thirty-six-minute record.
An album called “The Legend of the Six Kings” that leaves the story to its closing track is an album that doesn’t give itself time to tell it: ten pieces averaging three and a half minutes carry no narrative arc, and the only one with space to try is the last. On top of that, the middle of the running order holds “Iris” (three forty-five), a cover of the Goo Goo Dolls ballad that Napalm released on 1 October as a separate four-track EP. As a single it makes sense; as track five of ten it cuts the thread the other nine are trying to hold.
The craft doesn’t fail. “River of Time” (three twenty-five) and “To the Stars” (three thirty-two) do exactly what they need to in the time they have, and “Winter Hearts” (three twenty-one) shows the band can resolve a whole song in what others spend on an intro. This is a well-made record that chose to be short, and the workmanship is beyond reproach; the ambition of the title isn’t.
Rating: 7.0/10
Text by Roger Estivill