Album Review: Nordic Union - Animalistic
Reviewed by Richard Oliver
Nordic Union is the collaborative melodic hard rock project between Ronnie Atkins (Pretty Maids) and Erik Martensson (Eclipse). Ronnie and Erik came together in 2015 and hit it off immediately collaborating ever since when time has allowed. As is well documented Ronnie has a stage 4 cancer diagnosis but rather than sit home and sulk he is taking the opportunity to record and perform as much music as he can having released two solo albums as well as touring with his solo band and is currently hitting the summer festival circuit as one of the singers with Avantasia. He has also found the time to once again team up with Erik and the result is the third Nordic Union album titled Animalistic.
Despite being a fan of Ronnie Atkins' vocals and his main band Pretty Maids, I haven’t yet got round to checking out Nordic Union until now. I was expecting a melodic hard rock album but what I got instead was a heavy riff driven album with spectacular hooks and melodies. Seriously this album has crunching riffs which will get any self respecting heavy metaller nodding along in approval and these heavier songs are the most effective on the album. Album opener On This Day I Fight as well as songs such as If I Could Fly, Scream, Wildfire and the title track are great examples of this heavy sound with riffs that drive the song at a hefty pace but also incorporating great vocal melodies and choruses that are catchy as hell.
Thankfully these heavier driving rockers make up the majority of the album but there are some gentler songs on the album such as Riot and Last Man Alive which bring the pace down but don’t descend into soppy territory still retaining the energy and vibe of the rest of the album. It is clear that Ronnie and Erik have wonderful musical chemistry as the songs on this album are simply magnificent. As well as Ronnie handling vocals and Erik handling guitar, bass and keyboards you also have Fredrik Folkare (Unleashed) and Thomas Larsson handing some lead guitar parts and also Henrik Eriksson on the drums.
Animalistic is a really fine record. It is the perfect union between heavy riff driven music and big hooks and melodies and is an album that can easily appeal to metalheads and fans of more melodic AOR styles equally. It is also great to have another album featuring Ronnie Atkins. His workload over the last few years has been insane plus take into account his ongoing fight with cancer and the man has to be applauded. This is a fantastic rock album which ticks lots of boxes for me. Now to check out the previous Nordic Union albums.
