BLACK NOISE

FM´s debut album Black Noise is a very good symphonic prog rock album. If you like albums like Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures from Rush or some of Saga´s early albums or especially UK´s albums Black Noise needs to be in your record collection. FM has their own sound though so don´t write them off as a clone in fact Black Noise came one year before UK´s debut which it has many similarities to so who´s copying who ?

Black Noise is a very melodic album and there are lots of synth and sequencer layers in the songs. The album has an unmistakable eighties flavour to it that is also due to the AOR influenced vocals in a song like Phasors on stun. I don´t particularly like the vocals in this song but fortunately they are much better in some of the other songs. The vocals are not that dominant though and Black Noise has lots of long instrumental parts without vocals. Nash the Slash ( which sounds like a bad name from a horror movie like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Friday the 13th) also plays some electric violin parts that are very beautiful. In fact the whole album reeks of class both in the compositions and in the playing.

As mentioned the musicians are really good. Drummer Martin Deller who also plays the Arp 2500 synthesizers on Black Noise is a very skillful drummer with lots of innovative ideas. Cameron Hawkins who sings, plays bass, piano and synths are also a really good musician even though his voice isn´t very distinct. Nash the Slash who plays electric violin, elelectric mandolin, glockenspiel and sings is also a very acomplished musician.

The sound quality is very good and even though I said Black Noise is very eighties sounding there are still some very seventies sounding signatures in the sound. The drums for instance has a very soft sound.

Black Noise by FM has been an enjoyable album to listen to and I´m a bit torn here between giving it 3 big stars or 4 small, but I really like Black Noise so I think I will go with 4 small.