Formed in London in 1984, FM are a band who should have become stadium-filling superstars…and have great big mansions to prove it. They’re a band who’ve got it all; an inventive hard rock sound and a soulful vocalist make this quintet very easy on the ear, and while they’ve had dalliances with the charts throughout their career, for some reason those platinum awards have largely been out of reach. It’s a quandary made all the more puzzling by their latest album, Brotherhood, a collection of eleven tracks that finds the band at their best, delivering a set of tunes that stand as a career best.
If you like your hard rock with AOR flavourings and sprinkled with a melodic sensibility then you’ve definitely entered the right room and a track such as ‘Raised On The Wrong Side’ serves up a hefty dose. FM deliver an evocative sound and this cut will fill your head with visions of nocturnal, New York alleys with steam rising from manhole covers and figures lurking in the shadows. In fact, if they were to ever to make another film in the Rocky franchise, then ‘Raised On The Wrong Side’ would slot perfectly into the soundtrack. There’s a cinematic quality to each of these tracks which really brings them to life and makes them three-dimensional. It’s not an easy skill to master but it’s something FM have harnessed and any of these songs would make an ideal accompaniment to life’s key moments, whether it’s driving through desert plains with the top down (‘Chasing Freedom’) or the end of a relationship (‘Just Walk Away’), FM make those times all the more potent.
However, sometimes as critics we can over analyse music and it’s often best to enjoy songs such as ‘Coming For You’ for what they are (i.e. great, great, great songs). The solos here are very air guitar inducing while the grooves are so arresting they should be illegal. It sounds as if Steve Overland’s vocals have been soaked in honey and aged in a whisky barrel; like an elder statesman of blues, it adds an air authority and it all conspires to make the likes of ‘Do You Mean It’ prime pieces of ear candy.
I sincerely believe that FM’s limited commercial success is a matter of geography. You get the feeling that if they originated in the American heartland, FM would be placed in the same bracket as Journey and Survivor. As Brotherhood attests, they’ve certainly got the songs, along with that creative spark that elevates them above their peers, but while the excesses of success (that can often taint a discography) have largely avoided FM, their creativity and integrity remains intact. And if you need proof, look no further than Brotherhood.
Experience these songs live on the band’s forthcoming tour: Gigantic
- Brotherhood is released via Frontiers Music on 5th September 2025.
- Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | X | YouTube Channel
Track List:
- Do You Mean It
- Living On The Run
- Coming For You
- Raised On The Wrong Side
- Love Comes To All
- Just Walk Away
- Don’t Call It Love
- Time Waits For No One
- Because Of You
- Chasing Freedom
- The Enemy Within
