“Crowne is hands-down the most exciting, thrilling supergroup ever created out of the Swedish melodic hard rock scene” screams the bio that accompanies the review copy of the band’s new album, Operation Phoenix; And, after a few listens, despite being in no way the world’s foremost expert on such matters, I can’t find any evidence to refute the PR person’s claim…

This is album number two for Crowne, the brainchild of H.EA.T. genius Jona Tee that features members of Art Nation, The Poodles, Dynazty and, wait for it… Europe! And, whilst it bears the unmistakable hallmarks of Tee’s dayjob – impassioned, soulful vocals, uplifting melodies, huge choruses, you know the score by now – Crowne is very much it’s own entity.

Alexander Strandell is the latest off of Sweden’s production line of superb melodic hard rock vocalists – have a listen to his spine-tingling vocal on Super Trooper if you require proof – and his work throughout (described by my colleague and Sentinel Daily principal slave driver Scott Adams as ‘Leckremoesque’) is one of the album’s big drawcards. Similarly the guitar work of new axepert Love Magnusson (and how we did love him on that last Dynazty album) is spellbinding. His solo on the potentially ordinary anthem Ready To Run elevates the song to the next level, and again it has to be underlined that these aren’t one-off performances. Time and again throughout the duration of the record the players contribute a-grade performances to keep the listener’s excitement meters firmly in the red. Even John Levén, usually one of rock’s more unobtrusive bassists, grabs centre stage on the propuslive, Turbo-era Priest romp Juliette, propelling the song forward with some truly exciting four string work. In tandem with drummer Christian “Kicken” Lundqvist, he’s the rocking touchstone off which the magic is able to be sparked…

And then of course, there’s Tee; a true modern-day genius of hard rock, he’s the man that provides the spark for the rest of the assembled cast to set alight; Songs such as The Last Of Us are pure pop metal nirvana, uproarious slabs of fist-in-the-air mayhem that must surely bring a smile to Levén’s face in particular. There a timeless glory to tunes like Just Believe that is absolutely undeniable, and Crowne would appear to be a musical collective eminently able to execute the man’s all-encompassing vision. This is truly big music that deserves a big fan base – go to it!

Operation Phoenix releases on January 27th.