Federico Mondelli was already on the move when he joined me for our latest Crannk interview, travelling to the recording of a new Frozen Crown video that was still firmly under wraps.
Before we even launched into the official introduction, he wanted to know whether I had managed to hear the whole album. The answer was yes, multiple times, and I was not going to soften my verdict: The Legend of the Six Kings is an absolute fucking ripper.
Arriving October 2nd, 2026 through Napalm Records, the sixth Frozen Crown album transforms the identities of the band’s six members into a darker fantasy world filled with power, temptation, battle and rebirth. It also pushes their massive three guitar attack further while taking a more narrative driven approach to the record as a complete journey.
I caught up with Federico to discuss the earliest musical spark that started everything, why Frozen Crown albums begin as images before they become songs, how the writing process has grown within the band, and the challenge of turning the Goo Goo Dolls classic “Iris” into a Frozen Crown song without losing its emotional heart.
We also spoke about his hope that The Legend of the Six Kings could finally help bring Frozen Crown to Australia.
The Guitar Sound That Started Everything
Before stepping into the new album, I took Federico back to his earliest core musical memory and the moment music became more than background noise.
For him, that moment arrived through the opening guitar riff of “Love Gun” by KISS. He was still extremely young and did not even know what the members of KISS looked like. It was not the makeup, stage production or visual spectacle that first pulled him in. It was the sound of that distorted guitar.
“I didn’t know a guitar could actually sound like that.”
Federico remembered hearing something almost mechanical within it, comparing that first distorted guitar sound to a machine gun. It opened the door to rock music and eventually metal, planting the seed for everything he would later build as a musician, vocalist, songwriter and producer.
KISS might be an obvious gateway for generations of musicians, but Federico’s connection came from the music before the image. That makes the way he now creates Frozen Crown records even more interesting because, these days, the image often arrives before the first note.
Building an Album From the Cover Inwards
When Federico begins writing a Frozen Crown album, the first idea is not necessarily a guitar riff, vocal melody or lyric. It is the story and the visual world surrounding it.
“The first thing I literally had in mind was the album cover.”
He described the process as having the concept for a film before writing its individual chapters. Each song becomes another scene within that larger journey, with the riffs, vocal arrangements and structures growing from the world he can already see in his head.
That approach has been present since Frozen Crown’s earliest material, but The Legend of the Six Kings takes it further. Federico envisioned the title, its central image and the six figures represented within it before the songs began to arrive.
The hand painted artwork by Italian artist Sheila Franco gave physical form to that vision, portraying the six members as kings and queens inside Frozen Crown’s own dark fantasy mythology.
It also continues a royal thread that has run through the band since their 2018 debut, The Fallen King. That mythology has never been left completely behind, but the current six member lineup gives Frozen Crown the scale and personality to explore it more completely.
For Federico, it is their strongest album cover yet and notably the first Frozen Crown cover that he did not create himself.
From an Acoustic Guitar to Six Musical Identities
Although Frozen Crown began largely from Federico’s songwriting vision, the creative process has continued to grow as the band has evolved.
Once the central concept is in place, Federico begins with an acoustic guitar and the vocal melodies. He then works through those melodies with Giada “Jade” Etro and drummer Niso Tomasini, singing different harmonisations and exploring which voice is best suited to lead each section.
That decision helps establish who becomes the main character within a song.
Federico has always contributed both clean and harsh vocals to Frozen Crown, but songs including “I Am the Wind,” “I Am the Tyrant” and the new “Who Wants to Burn in Heaven” become particularly connected to his voice. This is not decided arbitrarily or simply divided between band members. The vocal lead goes wherever the melody works best.
Niso has also become far more involved beyond the rhythmic side of the band. Federico explained that Niso now contributes to the harmonic direction and plays an important role in shaping song structures, while Federico focuses more heavily on the guitar riffs.
Once the core composition has been established, the other guitarists bring in their solos and individual voices. Those contributions add another layer of personality that cannot be created by one musician writing every part alone.
Making Space for Three Lead Guitars
Writing for three lead guitarists gives Frozen Crown an enormous musical canvas, but the real strength of the arrangement comes from how different those players sound.
Federico hears similarities between his own approach and the style of Alessia Lanzone, who grew up listening to Frozen Crown before eventually becoming part of the band. Both lean towards a more modern guitar sound with greater weight in the lower frequencies.
Aleksandra Stamenkovic brings a noticeably different identity. Her playing draws more strongly from the 1980s, with a sharper, more abrasive sound that sits higher in the mix.
Those differences allow the guitars to alternate without becoming three versions of the same voice. Federico pointed towards tracks including “Lightning in the Sky,” “Through the Fire” and “Reborn” as places where listeners can hear those personalities moving between the solos.
“The One” holds a particularly important place within the record. It was the first song written for the album and became the first single, giving it the responsibility of introducing this new chapter of Frozen Crown.
Federico compared choosing that first single to the idea that sometimes the hero you need is not necessarily the hero you deserve. “The One” might not be his personal favourite song on the album, but it was the track best equipped to introduce the record’s darker atmosphere, Tolkien inspired world and expanded guitar arrangements.
Finding a New Side of Jade Through “Iris”
Frozen Crown covering the Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris” could easily have become a novelty in the wrong hands. Instead, the band preserved the vulnerability of the original while rebuilding it through their own power metal identity.
The song has lived in the DNA of Federico and the other members who grew up during the 1990s. It was something they had wanted to pay tribute to for some time, but the decision to finally record it came from the challenge it created for Jade.
Much of the song sits within a lower vocal register than listeners would normally associate with her. The most obvious arrangement would have been for Federico to sing the lower sections before Jade entered with the higher parts, but that solution felt too easy.
Instead, they encouraged Jade to sing the song naturally and follow where the emotion took her.
She was initially outside her comfort zone and perhaps a little hesitant about revealing that side of her voice, but the performance convinced the band not to change the song’s key. They retained that exposed lower register and only shifted the chorus so it could explode with the force needed from a Frozen Crown arrangement.
The result reveals another side of Jade without stripping away the identity that made “Iris” resonate with so many people in the first place.
The rhythmic construction created another challenge. Frozen Crown retained some of the groove associated with the original era before driving the track into faster drums and power metal harmonies. Federico also drew from Japanese band X Japan when developing the lead guitar harmonisation across its heavier passages.
It is a cover built from respect rather than reinvention for its own sake.
“Winter Hearts” and the Spirit of Earlier Frozen Crown
Where “Iris” pushes the band outside familiar territory, “Winter Hearts” deliberately reaches back towards Frozen Crown’s beginnings.
The song was written with The Fallen King track “Everwinter” in mind and originally carried a working title connected directly to it. Federico described it as a celebration of the earlier Frozen Crown sound, carrying the influence of more extreme but highly melodic metal alongside the band’s power metal foundations.
That connection is not driven only by nostalgia. “Winter Hearts” came from the combined efforts of Federico, Jade and Niso, who experimented with different tunings and unusual ways of shifting between them.
For Federico, the song carries the bond between those three musicians. You can hear them pushing an older Frozen Crown spirit through the chemistry and experience of the band they have become today.
From the Battlefield to the Six Kings
From the moment “Lightning in the Sky” throws the listener onto the battlefield, The Legend of the Six Kings moves with purpose.
The songs are not merely collected beneath a fantasy inspired title. They form chapters within the world Federico imagined before the music had even been written.
“Who Wants to Burn in Heaven” transforms Hell into a kingdom awaiting its rulers. “Reborn” draws strength from unity and resilience. “The One” steps deeper into the Tolkien influenced heart of the album, while “Winter Hearts” reconnects the story with Frozen Crown’s earlier identity.
Everything eventually leads towards the title track and the full arrival of the six kings and queens.
That sense of progression is what makes the album work beyond its individual singles. Federico creates the full picture first and then writes towards it, arranging each song as another piece of the film playing in his mind.
Could The Legend of the Six Kings Bring Frozen Crown to Australia?
As our time came to an end, Federico turned his final message directly towards Australian listeners.
Australia remains the one continent where Frozen Crown have never performed, and he made it clear that changing that would be a dream for the band. He described Australia as an exotic and fascinating place from their perspective and said it would be an honour and a blast to finally tour here.
The path towards that first Australian run begins with people getting around the new record.
Federico wants listeners to share their favourite tracks, leave feedback and engage with the band through YouTube and social media. Until Frozen Crown can meet Australian fans on the road, those conversations remain genuinely important to them.
After spending time with The Legend of the Six Kings, I can only hope Australian power metal fans answer that call. This album deserves to be played loud, and if your neighbours complain, turn it up because they clearly need to hear it as well.
The Legend of the Six Kings arrives October 2nd, 2026 through Napalm Records.
Preorder The Legend of the Six Kings through Napalm Records
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