FM Atomic Generation

FM – Atomic Generation. 10/10.

I always look forward to a new FM album, but this time they have gone and done it, knocked it right out of the park!

The album starts with the stadium lifting Black Magic, all singalong chorus and infectious hooks, this should get huge radio play, but it won’t, why? because its honest, well-crafted and well played, not some sterile pop pap! The ball keeps on rolling into Too Much of a Good Thing, a classic FM rockier type of ballad, something which they excel at. The rock keeps on coming with Killed by Love, and then straight into Only in It for The Money, my only gripe about this song is the dodgy till effect at the beginning of the song, sorry boys but I had to find something to complain about. Having said that its also the meanest riff on the entire album, something heavy oh yes indeed, the song itself covers all bases with Mr Overland being Mr Nasty all the way through, this leads us straight into Golden Days which takes right back to the eighties with a Don Henley kind of vibe, very similar to the boys of summer, but not if you get my drift.

They then go cross country on our ass and head back to a Rock/Motown type of vibe that they have tried before, something that Santana would kill for, with Playing Tricks On Me, there are so many tracks here that should be getting radio airplay, somebody should be charged for crimes against the nation! they then take the foot off the pedal, just a little, so that the band can have a breather but Make The Best Of What You Got will still get the crowd on their feet, it lulls you into a false sense of security that the band have played all of their best cards, but we are so wrong on that score, Follow Your Heart, is this band doing what they do best, a supremely crafted song with everything going right for them, this is the jewel in this particular crown, keyboards and guitars interplaying as they should with awesome vocals and some power chords in all the right places! Mr Kirkpatrick blazing away in a refined and smooth way like a modern-day Brian May, doing all the right things in all of the right places, and not one bit of shredding to get in the way, all the pieces fit and because of this it just makes the song soar.

How do they follow that well they break out the ballad, Do You Love Me Enough? Its so damn good it hurts, where else can they go with this? well they let Mr Davis loose with his trusty Hammond organ and they simply get Stronger, by now we the discerning listener are just about done there’s not a lot more they can do, or so we think, but they hit us with a fantastic acoustic led ballad called Love Is The Law, which brings the album back to earth with a gentle bump and not a crash landing.

I’m not sure how FM follow this, they have crafted the best album, their most consistent album since their debut, the band fit in and interplay, nobody plays over anybody else, the keyboards are to the fore as they should be, The guitars are to the point nothing is overdone a damn fine effort , my issue is that I want to see all eleven songs performed live as they would slot great into their set, this really is music for an Atomic Generation!