Album review: FM – Futurama

www.fmofficial.com [Released 31.03.14]

FM really are in a fine run of form of late, two great albums last year ‘Rockville I & II’, plus successful live dates and now we have this EP. Well you say EP, but this is FM we are talking about so in fact we have eleven songs clocking in at just under an hour.

There are four new songs on here, starting of with the instrumental title track which leads nicely into ‘Cold Hearted’, a gold plated FM hard rocker and then some. Steve Overland’s vocals are all over this and I am sure this will become a firm live favorite.

‘Bad That’s Good In You’ reminded me of Thunder for some reason, being a tasty piece of hard edged AOR. The fourth new song is a wonderful ballad ‘Preying On My Mind’ and here the acoustic guitar playing by Jim Kirkpatrick is something else! One of the better ballads they have done in recent times.

Six live songs recorded in Crewe, good to see a band playing at a venue of the normal gig circuit. The live set will please longer standing fans as they dip into the ‘Aphrodisiac’ album for three of the songs, the rest from last year’s excellent ‘Rockville’ release. Lovely version of ‘Closer To Heaven’ again Steve Overland shows why he has one of the best vocals around in rock today. Nice bit of Hammond playing by Jem Davis too. ‘Crosstown Train’ is another highlight in the live segment, sounding even heavier live than the studio version.

Final song is an extended remix of ‘Cold Hearted’ that adds a little more effects to the vocals and some backbeats. Maybe not to every fans taste but I like it!

FM are on top of their game again and long may it continue. A must have for fans and sets them up nicely for the upcoming UK dates with Foreigner and Europe. ****1/2

Review by Jason Ritchie

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

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Power Plays w/c 11 November 2024

ARCANE MOON Hello Sun (indie)
S8NT ELEKTRIC XTC (Long Branch Records)
ARCANA KINGS Here We Go (Curtain Call Records)
KLOGR face The Unknown (Zeta Factory)
BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)

Featured Albums w/c 11 November 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)