Album Review: Nordic Union - Animalistic

For as often as I grumble about the put-together groups that are coming out in a never-ending stream of mediocrity, there are occasionally those that rise above all that and work spectacularly. Few of those have been better than Nordic Union, the pairing of Eclipse mastermind Erik Martensson and Pretty Maids singer Ronnie Atkins. Ronnie's gritty voice was exactly what Erik's sugary songs always needed, and the two albums they made together are easily my favorite things either of them have done. I don't know if I would quite say they make up for all the similar projects that aren't as good, but they go a long way toward that goal.

Album number three comes as Ronnie continues to record as much music as he can, making the most of his time. None of that can be heard in the music, as Ronnie still sounds as he always has, anchoring these songs with a heaviness Erik can't achieve in any of his other projects. Both sonically and emotionally, Nordic Union is able to stretch melodic rock further than Eclipse can, and that means these songs are able to hit harder.

The guitars chug through songs like "This Means War" with a deep tone that brings in tinges of metal, and the balance between that heaviness and the melodic songwriting is what gives Nordic Union its strongest appeal. It's easy to be heavy, but plenty of AOR proves being that heavy while still writing catchy and memorable songs is not an easy task. So much of the latter is rock in name only, sounding so soft and fluffy it can almost put you to sleep. Nordic Union is a powerful beast, rolling over us not unlike the locomotive on the cover of their debut album.

The downside to all of this is the sense of familiarity. Erik has written enough songs now that many of his chord and rhythmic patterns find themselves popping up again and again, leaving bits of the album to sound interchangeable with the previous ones. That isn't entirely a bad thing, given how good those records are, but on the few songs that aren't quite as sharp, having a little bit of variety might help spice things up.

If anything, this album feels a bit less melodic and hooky than the previous ones. "Last Man Alive" is classic Nordic Union, and is damn infectious, but some of the tracks in the middle of the record are happy to take a more subdued approach on the melodic front. It doesn't harm the experience listening to the album, but I do get the sense this is a record where the cream will stick in my head, as opposed to the previous records, where damn near every song took turns doing that.

Let's not get lost among the weeds here. I'm nit-picking because that's what I'm supposed to be doing. The fact of the matter is that Nordic Union is still a glorious burst of melodic hard rock, and even if this record isn't the bulls-eye the first two were, it's not missing the the center of the target by much. The bar is high enough, even sliding under it slightly has them well above all the other bands that can't stretch their necks upward at all.

While Ronnie was making his recent solo albums, I was hoping he would have the chance to make another Nordic Union album. Nothing against his solo work, but this is where he sounds most alive. What the future holds is unknown, but the present gave us this record, and that's a gift worth celebrating.