Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Revolution or evolution, pretty much the end result is the same, things change and the old order is wept away; sometimes into obscurity, at others into the realms of fondness and nostalgia. Whichever way is chosen, what is always needed in the dark days after the shots have been fired and before the new way forges ahead, is Strength.

For Mike Peters, strength is a word that is keenly associated with him, it is a bond, a undeniable connection that just keeps on getting stronger with every passing gig or every new record, evolution or revolution, both serve the same purpose in the end. For Mike Peters it arguably acts as a catalyst in which to return once more to the back catalogue of The Alarm and re-imagine the songs that made up the band’s second album, Strength.

Following on in very much the same vein that saw Declaration once more enter the thoughts of the long term fan but more importantly grasp hold of a new generation in which to share the future with, Strength is an album of character, of burning desire and anger. It has the added attraction that 30 years can change an outlook somewhat, it can either add fuel to the fire of revolution or can bring harmony through evolution; both are viable, both have The Alarm strewn through every fibre and corpuscle.

Where Strength differs from the re-imagining from Declaration is in the inevitability that it is realised in songs such as The Day The Ravens Left The Tower and Deeside whilst hope abounds in the changing of lyrics of the classic Spirit of ’76. The Day The Ravens Left The Tower is a melancholic wonder, the darkening of the angst and spirit, the inevitable of the fall of the house of England at some point is wistful, affirming but also strangely hypnotic. The song captures the rawness and shortness of Empire and as tides can change history, so superstition and folklore have a habit of being at one when the past becomes greater than the prospect of the future.

In Spirit of ’76, the opposite is true; a song which dealt in the bleakness of memory and the falsehood of empty promises is given a fresh look. Not everything that happens in the past can forever tarnish and to hear the evolution of the man called Johnny, no longer hampered with dead eyes at the prospect of having spent time in Walton Jail, is something to take hold of and dare to dream that as listeners, we too can escape whatever jail we place ourselves into.

With songs such as Walk Forever By Your Side, the excellence of Father To Son and the addition of the songs Last Train and Absolute Reality thrown into the melting pot, The Alarm have once more added to the conundrum of whether revolution or evolution is the key to change, perhaps as Mike Peters shows, it is both.

Ian D. Hall