FM – Brotherhood

What does it sound like?:

Fifteen albums into a 41-year career you wouldn’t normally expect bands to be putting out some of their best work in 2025.

‘Bollocks to that,’ shout the five members of British rockers, FM.

Formed in ’84 by two members of Samson; two members of Wildlife, (brothers Chris and Steve Overland,) and the keyboard player from new wave band, The Invaders, (I still treasure their 1979 single, Girl’s in Action,) the band was signed by CBS and sent out on a German tour with Meatloaf. Their debut album, Indiscreet, was a big hit and they supported acts like Tina Turner, Foreigner, Gary Moore and Quo in their first two years, culminating in opening the U.K leg of Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet tour.

After several personnel changes and four more excellent albums, the band split up at the end of 1995.

In 2007, singer Steve Overland, drummer Pete Jupp and bassist Merv Goldsworthy decided to have another go and the band has toured the planet and put out ten more albums since.

Last year’s Old Habits Die Hard was a masterpiece of melodic rock, packed with loud guitars, pinpoint harmonies and terrific tunes. I saw then in a rock club in Hastings on that tour and they were wonderful; a band having just as much fun as their audience, well aware that they were a tight unit who know exactly what they’re doing. In Steve Overland they have one of the great British singers; a consummate frontman who absolutely loves what he’s doing. I came away mightily impressed and ‘awarded’ the album my Rock Album of 2024.

Brotherhood, its successor, will win the 2025 version of the same award; it’s that good.

Chock full of great melodies, it is one of those albums you put in the car and never take out. Tracks like Living On the Run, Coming For You and Raised On the Wrong Side set the tone with plenty of chunky guitars, a rock-solid rhythm section and Overland’s distinctive voice.

If there was any justice in the world, Love Comes to All would be a late-summer radio smash. What a joyous, gem of a song! Fluff Freeman, Roger Scott and Johnny Walker would have played the arse off it.

The tempo finally drops on track 6, the ballad, Just Walk Away. Again, that melody line and the vocals carry the day on what is a beautiful song. Don’t Call It Love pounds out of my car speakers and is the one I latched onto straight away. The big harmonies on the killer chorus make the song irresistible; another one Tommy Vance would have been pushing hard. You know when a car stops at the lights and the driver has the window down and is pumping out some non-descript L.A rap artist? Yesterday I gave the residents of my Berkshire village the pleasure of Don’t Call It Love and I got a thumbs up from the Postie.

DCIL into Time Waits For No One actually encapsulates what FM are all about; great, straightahead rockers, packed with harmonies, big guitars and killer vocals.

The three closing tracks do not let the side down and continue the rockin’ theme. The middle of the trio, Chasing Freedom has been carefully crafted to be a ‘hands in the air singalong’ par excellence. They let the first syllable of ‘freedom’ run longer than normal, (like it has an extra ‘e’) to heighten the power of the melody, (the songs are all collective co-writes but someone knows how to craft a song like it was a pop classic,) and, blimey, does it work.

The sound of the album is crisp and widescreen and the packaging of the CD is terrific.

What does it all *mean*?

As I said, this WILL be my Rock Album of 2025. It’s a belter.

Goes well with…

It’s predecessor, Old Habits Die Hard.

Release Date:

1st September 2025

Might suit people who like…

Foreigner, Bon Jovi, Journey, Def Leppard, Whitesnake.

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