Animalistic

Animalistic can only be heard with the circumstances in mind. Around Easter 2020, Ronnie Atkins was given a stage four cancer diagnosis. Rather than sit at home, he threw himself at music: the solo album One Shot in March 2021, then Make It Count almost a year to the day later in March 2022. In the gap between them, in late 2021 and early 2022, he teamed up with Erik Mårtensson again to make this — Nordic Union's third album, released by Frontiers. The project began as Perugino's 2015 idea, but by the third record that is no longer what it is about. Mårtensson wrote the bulk of it, with contributions from Atkins and Miqael Persson, and produced, mixed and mastered it too. Atkins's vocals were recorded by Jacob Hansen. Magnus Ulfstedt had gone from the drum stool and Henrik Eriksson took his place. There are eleven tracks. It opens on “On This Day I Fight.” Then “In Every Waking Hour,” the ballad “Riot,” and a close on “King for a Day.” Knowing what you know, simply reading the song titles in order tells you what this record is.