Album Review : FM : Brotherhood 

Review by Andy Hawes for MPM

FM are a British AOR/Melodic Rock institution. With the exception of a short hiatus some years ago, they’ve been producing quality AOR/Melodic Rock since the mid 1980s.

The great thing about this band is their phenomenal consistency over all the years: they’ve never recorded a dodgy album. As a fan, there are obviously some albums I like less than others, but it would be churlish (and indeed an untruth) to state that any of their albums are poor. Part of this is down to the consistency in the line up over the years. Vocalist Steve Overland, bassist Merv Goldsworthy and drummer Pete Jupp remain from the line-up that recorded Indiscreet, and guitarist Jim Kirkpatrick and keyboard player Jem Davis have been in the band for a long time now. Although it’s Overland’s sublime voice which understandably receives the greatest plaudits, they are all masters of their art and of the craft of AOR/Melodic Rock songwriting.

So here we are in 2025, almost 40 years since their incredible debut album Indiscreet, and I’m spinning their latest opus, Brotherhood. Now, there is one caveat to this: FM play AOR/Melodic Rock. It’s a style of music that has its own strict rules and conventions and the fanbase for this style of music pretty much demands that bands adhere to these, so we’re not going to be getting anything hugely different or groundbreaking here, but that being said, FM do like to cover the broadest ground possible within the constraints of the genre. This is ably demonstrated by opening track ‘Do You Mean It?’ which is a stomping Melodic Rock opener chock full of Bluesy 70s Rock influences (and keyboard tones) with one of those simple yet insidious hooks that burrows its way into your brain, aided by some fabulous female backing vocals which lend an almost Gospel vibe to the choruses. This is something pretty different for FM – they don’t use the female vocal thing very often. It’s also nice to hear a brief keyboard solo from the ever reliable Jem Davis in there too.

‘Living On The Run’ has a more traditional AOR vibe and is exactly the sort of thing we’d expect from FM: massive vocals, the perfect blend of guitars and keys and a huge chorus hook before ‘Coming For You’ kicks in with the sort of vibe you’d expect from Michael Bolton’s early 1980s AOR debut. It certainly has the retro keyboard sounds from that era and the song’s structure reminds me of the sort of thing Mark Mangold would have had a hand in writing back in the day and that’s no bad thing I can assure you! A great song and no mistake! 

The retro vibe continues in ‘Raised on the Wrong Side’ which is another fabulous slice of early 80s-esque AOR. The production is light, bright and airy and there’s a ton of room for everything to breathe. The heavy guitars are dialled back on this one in favour of retro piano and string sounds and cleaner guitars, giving it a softer feel which really works. There is just enough power to prevent this falling head over heels into wimpsville, and to me that’s absolutely bang on, as it gives exactly the right vibe for this very classy, breezy and summery anthem.

‘Love Comes To All’ opens with some choppy and funky clean Stratocaster chords ably supported by Hammond organs and acoustic guitars. This track has an equally retro feel – there’s a definite 70s vibe going on here on an absolutely superb slice of extremely melodic Soft Rock that I can almost imagine Peter Frampton playing back in the day. Quite glorious! 

Twinkling keyboards and acoustic guitars herald the opening of ‘Just Walk Away’ which is the obligatory power ballad. Steve Overland was born to sing this kind of song: his soulful and powerful delivery makes you believe every single word he utters as his silky vocal chords weave their magic and elevate a pretty standard ballad into realms of utter greatness. A word also has to be said here about the production: it’s absolutely excellent! It’s not over-cluttered and the very retro keyboard sounds and guitar tones work brilliantly to create a sound that is classic without sounding dated. Absolutely superb! 

‘Don’t Call It Love’ is the most recent single and is an absolute belter in the finest FM tradition! Pumping, driving bass and drums and chunky, powerful guitars provide the perfect backdrop to the usual stunning vocals (just listen to the high notes in the post-guitar solo playout!) and huge hooks. This is AOR the way it’s meant to be and is the sort of song that you need to play at brain-exploding volume with the windows down on your latest road trip! It’s a great choice for a single to promote the album and has all the hallmarks of FM’s greatest tracks. 

‘Time Waits For No One’ follows and is another of the softer tracks on the album with clean Stratocaster guitars and delicate keys leading the way on a quite brilliant slice of summery, uptempo AOR. I’m really enjoying the way the album is structured, with these softer tracks punctuating the slightly more rocky ones. It gives a very positive and well-rounded listening experience, as you don’t feel like you’re listening to the same track over and over, which can be a drawback of some albums in the genre. Also, the production is very ‘listener-friendly’. This is because the tracks aren’t overloaded and over-layered. Some modern AOR albums throw everything but the kitchen sink into the mix and, as a result, the listener’s ears can get tired. Not so with this album! 

‘Because of You’ is another classy slice of AOR with more of those glorious early 80s style keyboard sounds coming to the fore in a hook-filled monster of a track. Brooding, powerful, spacious, dynamic and extremely classy, it’s tracks like this that demonstrate exactly why FM have the longevity that they enjoy. 

‘Chasing Freedom’ is a slightly more lightweight track with much cleaner, almost Country-Rock electric and acoustic guitar sounds, although the song structure is as AOR as they come. I love the sound of this track; it’s different and really suits the band to dial back the power a bit. It also fits like a glove into the album’s running order and slots in perfectly despite the slightly different sound.

The album closes with ‘Enemy Within’ which is a brooding, chugging rocker with Jem Davis’ ever-present and ever-wonderful keyboards adding delicious flavour to the chunky guitars and to Steve Overland’s wonderful vocal melodies. It’s a good, solid closer for a very impressive album.

Brotherhood is a really excellent album. It sits proud and strong amongst FM’s illustrious back-catalogue with considerable ease. It is perhaps a tad more light-weight in its sound than some of the recent albums, but that’s no bad thing. It certainly celebrates the long and illustrious history of AOR with its use of some delightful keyboard patches that really hark back to the early 80s without ever sounding dated.

Every member of the band plays their part perfectly in this album. From Jem Davis’ superb keyboard contributions, through Jim Kirkpatrick’s excellent lead guitar playing (always plays for the song), through to Merv Goldsworthy’s relentlessly driving bass and Pete Jupp’s always powerful drumming, everything comes together to create the soundscapes within which Steve Overland can place his astonishing vocals. They guy still sounds almost exactly like he did in 1986, which is pretty incredible. 

This is an album of old-school AOR. It doesn’t attempt to follow the trends and styles of the new boys in the game, who often seem to believe that the only way to go is to over-produce and over-layer everything until your ears bleed. No, this is a classic case of ‘less is more’ and will sound pretty much exactly like it does here in the live shows. Wonderful songs, superb performances and excellent production all combine here to create a slice of pure class! I’m sure that fellow fans of FM will love this album as it does exactly what we’d expect: serve up massive slices of powerful and hook-laden AOR/Melodic Rock tracks. In fact, any lover of classy and classic-sounding AOR should check this out as this is AOR the way it should be done!

Essential listening! 

The album is available to pre-save and pre-order on vinyl, CD and digital from this commercial link – https://ffm.to/fmbrotherhood

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