Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Courage is doing what you need to do despite all that life can throw against you.

Much has been written, proudly stated, said with concern for one of music’s true great icons and inspirations, a man of distinction, and those who hold him as dear as he holds them, and perhaps it is with most vocal of support that many openly declare that The Alarm, in which ever state of membership they are in, deserve to be listened to and taken note of.

That is a truth, but it is not the whole story going Forward. People, music lovers in their droves should not just be in awe of the courage shown, but for the sheer brilliance in which Mike Peters continues to hold his own when it comes to bring a lyric to life, a settling of words from a poet with anger and love equally fighting in his Olympic-sized heart for reason and uncovering loyalty and integrity.

To have The Alarm still making music, to have Mike Peters, Jules Jones Peters, James Stevenson, and Smiley, is to have the belief of being unbeatable by your side, every moment within the album acting as a steward, a knight, a sword wielder of piercing honour slaying the darkness that comes in the guise of dragons. Throughout the album the listener feels the pulse of righting injustices, of hearing cries and wanting to ease the pain and soften the blow…that going Forward is not a case of courage, but a true necessity of being.

With tracks such as The Returning, Love and Forgiveness, Whatever, Transition, the phenomenal X, and the title track of Forwards, leaving the listener in no doubt of the state of the world we have not only allowed, but insisted comes into actuality, is one of anger, of resentment, and wrath, that love has taken a back seat in the wake of all that has infected this world…and that is not how it should be, it is not right, it is not desirable, nor needed, what is required is the acceptance of love and care.

Forward is an album of potency and muscle, but underneath there is also the understanding that love can win out if we insist that right people lead us to a higher plane, that the place where courage and truth are the ultimate in expression.

Ian D. Hall