Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

In the end addiction will get the better of you, even in the comforting tones of art, for in striving for more, to reach the high that comes with the laudable and the attained pleasure, the chemicals in the brain will tell you that it can always be pursued, that tiredness can be overcome with positive thoughts, a different diet, exercise, taking the advice of the desperate for attention and the ones who hold a pointed gun at your temple.

Tiredness is a by-product of the age, the ever increasing desire by Government and business to be seen as aiding the bloated, often senile, economy, we want more things, we drive ourselves to an earlier grave and for what, the sensation of Alamort, of being so exhausted that you are close to death, it is a feeling that is not worthy in the modern age and one that is striven superbly by Ducking Punches as an explanation for our downfall.

It is in the sheer breakdown of honesty in every songs that marks the new album by Ducking Punches out, the sense of gratitude in opening up the emotions and seeing the flood of pain, resolution and drive being entangled in a sea of boiling waters and knowing that with the cooling waters ahead, relief and expression will be seen as a truth in which to savour; that by driving ourselves to the point of absolute exhaustion is the weapon in which the darker aspects of society encourages.

For Dan Allen, Pete Wright, Marcus Gooda and Ryan Hillier, Alamort is not just a confirmation of the brutality of modern life and the treadmill we place ourselves in just to be seen as productive, it is the medicine of renewal, of understanding that the cure in this case is mightier than the often perceived rewards and it is in the sheer depth of emotion carried by the lyrics and the adjoining music that makes you want to punch the air in delight at the music played.

In tracks such as Smoking Spot, Missing You Is Killing Me, Witches of Valais, Sobriety and I Was Comfortable, the pain felt is tempered by the release, the first step to back to a place of health and happiness and it is a thrilling spectacle of promise to behold.

Alamort, nobody should ever push themselves to the brink just to see someone else benefit, life is so much more than numbers and the economy getting an adrenalin shot, this is the salvation that music offers and in which Ducking Punches have excelled at in their new and tantalising recording.

Ian D. Hall