Nordic Union
Nordic Union
Frontiers Music Srl
2016
Frontiers has become a bit of a breeding house, cooking up all possible and impossible combinations of musicians under the label in projects that vary both in quality as well as success, bringing back to life and signing classic hard rock bands, sometimes with alternative line-ups or just “handling” some rock ‘n roll heroes. The former of these cases is “Nordic Union”, the pairing of Pretty Maids frontman Ronnie Atkins and Erik Martensson (Eclipse, W.E.T, Ammunition) on lead guitars, bass, keyboards and background vocals and Magnus Ulfstedt (Eclipse’s mid-period drummer, now and for better bassist!)
The pretty compatible style of the two Scandi musicians seems to work quite well. There’s definitely some chemistry there that could evolve in the future. Erik is slowly turning into quite the producer… apart from being a great singer, guitarist and songwriter. There is some “fatigue” I guess from Erik spreading himself so thing over all these projects and getting to work on this one as well in quick succession, but it’s mostly manifested by sticking to formulas and not sounding “really” inspired than actually producing “duds”. I think he deserves a little time off, to maintain the high level for which the previous albums he’s been involved with are known for.
Opener “The War Has Begun” is a fine track that sounds quite great and familiar (probably because it bares great similarities to W.E.T’s “Brothers in Arms”, another EM composition, along with some minor melodies from Ammunition’s “Shanghaied” but otherwise different enough)…
“Hypocrisy” is written about some lady called Caroline and it’s a great “hurt” up-tempo rocker… with a modern sound, edgy guitars and a beautiful solo.
“Wide Awake” is probably an “Eclipse” tune, sung by Atkins. The style is quite persistent and formulaic but the production a nice enough riff and hook make it work… and the solo is once again, pretty nice.
“Every Heartbeart” is a sing-a-long sort of power ballad that remains “unplugged” apart from the solo, a really great tune...
“When Death is Calling” is a little derivative, using a variation of that Mission(UK) – “Deliverance” / H.I.M – “Wings of a Butterfly” riff and rythmics to greet us with, before it heads into some Eclipse meets latter day Maids anthem of sorts territory… it’s catchy, but it could have been a bit more original…
“21 Guns” is a whole lotta better, still melodic but also quite up-tempo and dynamic…
“Falling” sounds like modern day Bon Jovi with a more dynamic chorus, which basically makes it interesting to see what a guy like Erik could do with a guy like Jon… that would be something I’d like to “hear” and might help Jovi’s ailing career at this point…
“The Other Side” maintains the momentum of the album with its uplifting chorus even though it’s a little predictable.
The slightly more adventurous and quite riffy “Point of No Return” doesn’t change the formula a bit, but seriously benefits from Atkins’ conviction.
“True Love Awaits You” is a more temperate soft rocker that works to great effect...
Last but not least, “Go” is something that I could picture in a W.E.T album… an up-tempo explosive feel-good track that feels quite anthemic and closes the album quite nicely.
All in all, this is a more than fair album that tends to be a bit on the formulaic side of things, but still does’t disappoint for that, which sounds “exactly” like the sum of its parts. One part Eclipse and one part Maids, this is blissfully melodic hard rock of high caliber that could have turned out a bit better but still is mouthwatering-ly good.
The pretty compatible style of the two Scandi musicians seems to work quite well. There’s definitely some chemistry there that could evolve in the future. Erik is slowly turning into quite the producer… apart from being a great singer, guitarist and songwriter. There is some “fatigue” I guess from Erik spreading himself so thing over all these projects and getting to work on this one as well in quick succession, but it’s mostly manifested by sticking to formulas and not sounding “really” inspired than actually producing “duds”. I think he deserves a little time off, to maintain the high level for which the previous albums he’s been involved with are known for.
Opener “The War Has Begun” is a fine track that sounds quite great and familiar (probably because it bares great similarities to W.E.T’s “Brothers in Arms”, another EM composition, along with some minor melodies from Ammunition’s “Shanghaied” but otherwise different enough)…
“Hypocrisy” is written about some lady called Caroline and it’s a great “hurt” up-tempo rocker… with a modern sound, edgy guitars and a beautiful solo.
“Wide Awake” is probably an “Eclipse” tune, sung by Atkins. The style is quite persistent and formulaic but the production a nice enough riff and hook make it work… and the solo is once again, pretty nice.
“Every Heartbeart” is a sing-a-long sort of power ballad that remains “unplugged” apart from the solo, a really great tune...
“When Death is Calling” is a little derivative, using a variation of that Mission(UK) – “Deliverance” / H.I.M – “Wings of a Butterfly” riff and rythmics to greet us with, before it heads into some Eclipse meets latter day Maids anthem of sorts territory… it’s catchy, but it could have been a bit more original…
“21 Guns” is a whole lotta better, still melodic but also quite up-tempo and dynamic…
“Falling” sounds like modern day Bon Jovi with a more dynamic chorus, which basically makes it interesting to see what a guy like Erik could do with a guy like Jon… that would be something I’d like to “hear” and might help Jovi’s ailing career at this point…
“The Other Side” maintains the momentum of the album with its uplifting chorus even though it’s a little predictable.
The slightly more adventurous and quite riffy “Point of No Return” doesn’t change the formula a bit, but seriously benefits from Atkins’ conviction.
“True Love Awaits You” is a more temperate soft rocker that works to great effect...
Last but not least, “Go” is something that I could picture in a W.E.T album… an up-tempo explosive feel-good track that feels quite anthemic and closes the album quite nicely.
All in all, this is a more than fair album that tends to be a bit on the formulaic side of things, but still does’t disappoint for that, which sounds “exactly” like the sum of its parts. One part Eclipse and one part Maids, this is blissfully melodic hard rock of high caliber that could have turned out a bit better but still is mouthwatering-ly good.