FM: Old Habits Die Hard (A.O.R.): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Sometimes you have to wonder whether some people shouldn't have been more careful before provoking fate. After playing with the number 13 on their 2022 album “Thirteen”, FM seems to have paid a high price for their bravado. On August 24, 2023, its members had to deal with a double death. That of Chris Overland, Steve's brother and co-founder of the band in 1984, but also that of Bernie Mardsen, ex-member of Whitesnake and Alaska among others, and close friend of Jim Kirkpatrick. Add to this the fact that Jem Davis has had to battle cancer, and it's clear that the British band has not been spared after its amusing provocation. But the quintet is solid and determined, and is back with an opus entitled “Old Habits Die Hard”.

If, as the name suggests, old habits die hard, that doesn't mean they're necessarily bad and must be discarded. To celebrate forty years of existence, FM offers us a digest of all the facets it has been able to present to us throughout its career. From the single 'Out Of The Blue', a catchy and sunny composition by Jem Davis, typical of the 80s, to the classic-rock 'Leap Of Faith', via the dark and elegant 'Black Water' with its bluesy effluvia, we cross all the eras through which this combo with such a marked identity has passed.

One melodic gem follows another, often with catchy choruses and luminous solos, all led by the recognizable voice of Steve Overland, the Rolls-Royce of the genre. Given the impossibility of naming every jewel in the crown of Her Majesty's subjects, we'll confine ourselves to drawing attention to its brightest gems. Groovy and euphoric, 'Don't Need Another Heartbreak' harks back to the heyday of the 80s. More Hard Rock but still just as catchy, 'Lost' is further enriched by a heady riff. The theatrical and inspired 'Another Day In My World' sees keyboards reinforce its dramatic ambience, before 'Blue Sky Mind' closes the festivities with dynamism and luminosity - a track composed by Jem Davis that deals with his fight against illness in a positive and optimistic way.

Although “Old Habits Die Hard” reveals a certain understandable melancholy, it nonetheless offers the image of an inspired FM displaying all the facets of his talented career. The band may have occasionally gone into autopilot, but it remains a flagship of the genre that bears its name, and it's exciting to see that it's still capable of releasing opuses of this quality after four decades of existence. - Official website

FM

OLD HABITS DIE HARD

FRONTIERS RECORDS

A.O.R.