The FMs – 51122

The FMs – 51122
Release Date: 22nd November 2024
Label: Self Released
Bandcamp
Genre: Synthpop, Post-Punk, Alternative, Industrial, LGBTQ-centric punk, lo-fi dreampop.
FFO: Joy Division, Marilyn Manson, Brian Eno.
Review By: Andy Spoon

The FMs’ newest release after the passing of member Frankie Rex and posthumous release PINK+BLACK is a dark dreampop and synthwave offering that has toes in the glorious 80s and modern queerpop that seeks to break boundaries even after Rex’s passing. Co-member Matte Namer appears on the remainder of the album, as Rex’s recorded vocals are limited to the work they were on before their death. If you’re a fan of metal music, you have to be able to listen to certain alternative bands from the alternative scenes, as there is more akin to the spirit of metal than mainstream pop or synthpop. 

Thankfully, the part of the scene, as mentioned in my previous review, that attracts cultural outsiders, outcasts, and the generally-unknown happens to be about as “metal” as it gets in many ways. It would be in any metalhead’s best interest to learn to enjoy the darker side of mainstream or no-metal music. I think that Lingua Ignota is a perfect example of that spirit of “metal” as it brings the most violent, gritty, and melancholy subject matter to the forefront, sans extreme guitar and blast beats (Also look at the projects from The Caretaker). I’ve believe that The FMs is a band who touches the same nerves – through the experience of the LGBTQ+ struggle and social issues. 

The alternative nature of post-punk and alt-pop/synthwave is a medium that has attracted the underground, the punk, and the LGBT community. Bands like The Cure, Joy Division, and Jesus Mary Chain are/were revered in the communities as beacons for the marginalized, something to which I don’t have personal experience, but am growing to respect in recent years. The FMs is a project that seems to carry on that emotive and “bubbly-but-dark” darkness that touches me right in the feelings where metal touches as well. It’s hard to describe, but as my metal journey has gone on, I think that queer-core bands like Black Dresses and The FMs are catching my attention in powerful ways, helping me embrace the art of the movement. 

Metal itself was designed to evoke intensity, heaviness, melancholy, ugliness, even hatred and rage. The genre has been expanded to content, as well as tone and timbre. If you think that Domino, a track with particularly-heavy subject matter (extreme gun violence) isn’t on the same page as any other band who wished to evoke heaviness, ugliness, or hatred, you might want to re-think your understanding of what metal means to you. That being said, The FMs always tend to speak on subjects that probably resonate in the queer and gender-fluid community, such as discrimination, media bias, and social identity. If punk and metal are cousins, I think that The FMs should be family by adoption, in the same way that we’ve adopted The Cure and Q Lazzarus. 

(3.5 / 5)