Label: Frontiers Music Srl.
Release date: August 12, 2022
Production: Erik Martensson
Album length: 39.30 min
Genre: Heavy Metal/Hard Rock
Rating: 8.5/10
Nordic Union is a melodic metal project teaming up Erik Martensson (Eclipse) and Ronnie Atkins (Pretty Maids), and their new album “Animalistic” is already their third. It follows its predecessor “Second Coming” (RockLine review) after four years. Four years is a long gap, but given how constantly busy both of these guys are, it’s a wonder they find any spare time at all. Atkins is a legend. The man is enjoying a real renaissance in recent years. His fight with cancer is clearly going very well: in this latest era he’s put out two excellent solo albums, the second one, “Make It Count” (RockLine review), just this year. Martensson isn’t letting up either, whether with his Eclipse and a whole pile of other projects, W.E.T. included, or with the grind of being a highly sought-after producer.
“Animalistic” is another album that shows just how closely related Eclipse and Pretty Maids really are, with Pretty Maids being the band Martensson learns from. Ever since he was a kid, and the band that has inspired him ever since he stepped into the world of professional musicianship. But Martensson has always been known as an excellent songwriter, too. The feel for musicality, for how to put a song together so it grabs you instantly, runs in his veins. Eclipse albums prove it, and so does the new Nordic Union album, an incredibly deftly and brilliantly blended piece of work, showcasing remarkable compositional variety and looseness. The same goes for the exceptional dynamics in the swings between highly vibrant moods in the album’s mostly dark but unmistakably pompous, drama-theater musicality.
“Animalistic” is the sharpest Nordic Union album Martensson and Atkins have put together to date. Just like the title says. Bestial. You recognize Atkins instantly. His gritty, explosive vocal style keeps all the trademarks that have made him such a well-known and respected, we might as well say iconic, heavy metal vocalist. It’s incredible how much high-octane fuel Atkins still has in the tank, even with Pretty Maids on a multi-year hiatus or seemingly buried. But there’s something about him. He’s constantly surrounded by a bouquet of the best Scandinavian songwriters in metal, and that of course includes Martensson’s all-encompassing services, with which the tireless Erik has assembled a cannonade of brilliantly rabid melodic metal charges on “Animalistic”, all of them competing to be the catchiest. An album that grabs you in an instant and holds you tight for a virtuously defined 39 minutes of playing time. Once again it’s hard to pick favorites that stand out, which means “Animalistic” is exceptionally polished and complete.
“Animalistic” is a prime example of the perfect pairing in pursuit of metal destruction and musical pomp. Both Pretty Maids and Eclipse are masters of this, and on the new Nordic Union album Martensson delivers as songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist simply superbly. Anyone who knows his body of work won’t be especially surprised. With Atkins’ phenomenal vocal performance, which once again takes the legendary singer’s listeners’ breath away, and Martensson overseeing it all, “Animalistic” simply can’t and won’t disappoint. Of the three Nordic Union albums, it’s by far the sharpest and most bestial. Interestingly, the album is marked by one ‘jab after jab’ sequence of charges, and “Animalistic” only ‘settles down’ for a moment right before the end with the song Last Man Alive, which radiates more of Eclipse’s character, built on a mid-tempo groove but executed in the spirit of reaching a new hypermusical catchiness. The high-octane burn returns with the final tornado, King For A Day.
If you’ve become a bit of a skeptic about the trillion artificially glued-together and often not exactly bold projects that Frontiers Music Srl. has been churning out in recent years, then in Nordic Union’s case at least, the creative chemistry between Martensson and Atkins works completely organically and flawlessly. Put simply, “Animalistic” is an excellent melodic metal achievement full of devilish, adrenaline-fueled rush.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Track list:
1. On This Day I Fight
2. In Every Waking Hour
3. If I Could Fly
4. Riot
5. This Means War
6. Scream
7. Animalistic
8. Wildfire
9. Shot In The Dark
10. Last Man Alive
11. King For A Day
Line-up:
Ronnie Atkins – lead and backing vocals
Erik Martensson – lead and rhythm guitars, bass guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
Guest musicians:
Fredrik Folkare – guitar solos
Henrik Eriksson – drums
Thomas Larsson – guitar solos on the songs Scream, Riot and Last Man Alive
