NORDIC UNION Feat. PRETTY MAIDS Vocalist, ECLIPSE Guitarist: Second Album Due In November
The Danish/Swedish group NORDIC UNION — which features PRETTY MAIDS vocalist Ronnie Atkins and guitarist/songwriter/producer Erik Martensson (ECLIPSE, W.E.T., AMMUNITION) — will release its sophomore album, "Second Coming", via Frontiers Music Srl on Nov. 9.
NORDIC UNION released its acclaimed self-titled debut album – which also featured Martensson's ECLIPSE and AMMUNITION bandmate Magnus Ulfstedt on drums — in January of 2016.
Much like W.E.T., which saw Martensson join forces with vocalist Jeff Scott Soto (SONS OF APOLLO, TALISMAN) and keyboardist/guitarist Robert Säll (WORK OF ART), the musical collaboration between Martensson and Atkins was the brainchild of Frontiers president Serafino Perugino. The resulting partnership between the two Scandinavians worked well, and together, they created some musical magic which impressed fans of both highly regarded musicians.
Prior to the release of the NORDIC UNION's debut — which included the song "Hypocrisy", the music video for which appears below — Atkins described the album as "a killer melodic hard rock album with a lot of good songs on it."
"The music has a focus on good melodies, and there's some good guitar work as well," he said. "I had a good gut feeling ever since I heard the first songs from Erik, and I was right – he's a very gifted and talented songwriter! I could really feel the songs as mine and identify with [them]."
Atkins, 53, co-founded PRETTY MAIDS with guitarist Ken Hammer in Denmark in 1981. The group has released 15 studio albums to date, most recently 2016's Jacob Hansen-produced "Kingmaker", which cracked the Top 40 in Germany, Switzerland and Sweden. The band plans to release a new album in 2019.
Martensson is a prolific Swedish producer, guitarist and songwriter who is best known for fronting ECLIPSE — who will also release a new album in 2019 – and serving as the "E" in the melodic rock supergroup W.E.T., whose third album, "Earthrage", was released via Frontierson March 23.
