Find Me are a six-piece AOR band, and Nightbound is their fifth album. Unusually, the lineup includes two keyboard players, which is kind of rare within the broad church of Metal, but, being a broad church, alright then. Also, tantalisingly, especially for rockers of a certain age, such as myself, three of the songs were written by the legendary Jim Petrik of Survivor fame, and that is kind of a big deal. Jim Petrik, the absolute Jim Steinman of AOR. And with that kind of pedigree to decorate these tunes, I, for one, could not wait to check them out.
Find Me – Nightbound (Frontiers Music s.r.l.)
Release Date: 13 September 2024
Words: Mark Rotherham
The album kicks off very nicely with Never Be Alone, a fusion of keyboards and slightly overdriven guitar that takes you right back to the ’80s. Memories of summer nights, and long, uber-permed hair are immediately created when you listen to a musical style that you thought had long since been laid to rest. The song’s lyrics also remind you of that halcyon time.
Robbie LaBlanc’s voice is an almost eerie reminder of Jimi Jamison in his heyday, and for any surviving fans of Survivor out there, you will definitely appreciate the homage. It’s safe, unthreatening, accessible soft rock, and in that, it wins because that is exactly what it sets out to be.
Did somebody say, Survivor? Did somebody say Jimi Jamison? Well, the second track is a glittering clone cover of I See You In Everyone. If I had not heard the original all those years ago, right when I was growing up and experiencing life for the first time, I would love this version. It’s good, that’s for sure, and it almost, but not quite, captures the magic of the original.
I hope, though, that Find Me do not mind me making that distinction, given my own personal attachment to the original. It is also worth pointing out that resurrecting the ’80s AOR sound now is a very risky thing to do, but Find Me steps up to that challenge phenomenally well.
Can’t Wait Here Anymore starts with the same keyboard and guitar mix, before the synths lead the riffing. And maybe it’s the European connections, but this song takes me right into Bonfire territory. It’s slick, it’s catchy, and it will stay in your mind long after you have listened to it, even just once.
The guitar gets let off the leash a bit more with Distant Lovers, and while the credits do not give it away, I would not be surprised if this is one of the three Petrik tunes. If I didn’t know this was Find Me, I would swear it was Survivor I was listening to. It’s got the same effortless quality, a sense that you have always known this song, that you have been listening to it your whole life.
There is a fantastic treble-rich intro to Nightbound, giving the song a haunting feel. Robbie LaBlanc puts the foot on and then off the gas with the vocals, making this one of the more diverse and changing songs on the album so far. And the solo? It actually reminds me of Rainbow’s Stargazer. You want varied? You got it.
A Sweet Child ‘O Mine type guitar line and soaring vocals lead us into Love Always Finds a Way. This is a big-voice, melodic and radio-friendly song that you can easily imagine being played all summer on every car stereo by the bay. It is a simple theme of waiting for love, and it has been sung plenty of times before, but Find Me find just the right way to carry it off without sounding stale.
Robbie gets the real chance to throw his vocals around with Speechless, which zings along with big productions chorusing, and then all of a sudden, his voice goes right through the roof. There is nostalgia and a sense of good times once forgotten and now remembered in all of these songs. Back in the day, songs like this were what being young and growing up was all about, and it’s nice to remember that feeling.
Within a whole album of upbeat and feelgood, Walk Through The Fire is one of the even more upbeat songs, assuring the listener of their pretty much guaranteed success, a challenge that we can face and overcome. There is more than the odd cliché in the lyrics, but you do not get this far into a Find Me album and expect anything else, believe me.
Robbie’s pipes absolutely open up with Said And Done. It is all about the verses and some of the fullest vocals you will ever hear, while the choruses are just that, more of a joint effort from the whole band.
One thing that is surprising by its absence on this album is the ballad. Or, more to the point, there isn’t one. Savage Blue probably comes the closest, and not because it is slow tempo, but that it has got the softest edge. It is the one most likely to be the typical single, although Never Be Alone has got that distinction. It’s radio-friendly, as all the songs are on this album, only more so.
The gas is well and truly rammed to the max for the last song, The Time Has Come, following the same formula throughout. Quality mid-road radio rock that oozes quality and slick musicianship.
So there you have it, a huge, big slice of unashamedly ’80s style AOR, in the style that graced every radio station back in the day. It takes a brave band to go down that road in the twenty-first century, and it takes a rare band to make it work. Find Me tick both of those boxes.
“The new Find Me is my favourite to date,” Robbie LaBlanc said. “I know it seems cliche to say that, but I really believe it! There is a good mix of songwriters on the album, including three songs from Jim Peterik. How lucky am I to sing three of his songs?
“Danny [Flores] did an amazing job on the production and arrangements. All of the musicians were amazing as well. All I had to do was sing on top of this great band. I am certain that our fans will absolutely love this new offering from us. We poured our hearts into this one.”
If, like me, your musical identity developed and solidified in the ’80s, or if your heart belongs to the AOR bands of the time, then Find Me just might be the band you’ve been waiting for.
This is slick, safe, mid-road rock music, but no less enjoyable for all of that. Available to pre-order from here.
