∑ Sigma is a studio album released by by Mike Peters and The Alarm which was released in the UK on 28th June 2019. It contains six reworked versions of songs from Blood Red and Viral Black, two songs that first appeared on the Where The Two Rivers Meet EP, plus three new songs and a new alternative version of Two Rivers. It was released on CDand Vinyl. There was also a promotional CD version.


Press Release
∑ SIGMA (released by The Twenty First Century Recording Company and distributed by InGrooves) takes up and carries forward themes that were first expressed through = Equals, a collection of songs that acted as a retrenchment of original values and a poignant reflection of the tough times the band and its fans have had to contend with in recent years. With The Alarm firing on all cylinders again, the band released = Equals on June 28th 2018 and received some of the best reviews the group has ever had, and charted on both sides of the Atlantic. Whilst committing to a vast amount of live concerts in support of the new music they had created, and with over 100 shows played, the emotional repercussions became clear for all to see, through the spirit of life-affirming optimism that fueled every single show.
With so much material – almost 30 finished songs in all – The Alarm initially envisaged a double album (which started out under the all-embracing handle of Sigma’s opening cut Blood Red Viral Black). “All the songs had a similar emotional core although there are also fundamental differences,” explains Mike. “So I divided the songs into categories – inwards / red / blood / outwards / black / viral. Road-testing the new songs live, helped us decide to release the music in two stages. First as Equals / = with the knowledge that a sequel would come in the form of Sigma / ∑, a year later.” 
∑ Sigma has once again been produced by George Williams (who has worked with The Alarm throughout this entire period), and acts as a sequel for 2018’s critically acclaimed EQUALS release and features musical contributions from original Alarm guitarist Dave Sharp and Billy Duffy from The Cult. “It’s an honour to have Dave Sharp performing on Sigma“,said singer Mike Peters. “Dave was and always will be, part of The Alarm family, and to have him feature on this record is a thrill for all of us and I’m sure, for all the fans too. Having Billy Duffy play guitar with The Alarm has become part of our DNA,“ continues Mike. “It’s a relationship that goes back to the start of this new century, when the beginnings of new era’s for both The Alarm and The Cult were being formed. ∑ Sigma defines our relationship as friends and opposites, human beings united through the colour of sound.” Can You Feel Me shows just how deep emotions must have run in the Peters’ household with a lyric fraught by tension and release, while the psychedelic explosion – Brighter Than The Sun, trips a wire of white heat rock music. Time with its eternal musical countdown, echoes the fragility and resolve of the human condition as ∑ Sigma comes to an apocalyptic ending with Armageddon In The Morning, and a solitary piano / vocal reprise of Two Rivers (a song that spans and connects both albums), only this time, with a completely different lyric and musical focus, bringing unity and closure to all of the themes and explorations. 
∑ Sigma utilises the vast array of instrumentation that The Alarm currently has at its disposal, with guitarist James Stevenson (who has also performed guitar duties for Jay Aston’s Gene Loves Jezebel, The Cult, Scott Walker and Tony Visconti’s Holy Holy), playing both guitar and bass through a unique combination of pedals, double neck, six and four string instrumentation. Charismatic drummer Smiley drives the rhythm unit with a traditional acoustic drum kit augmented by electric percussion and diverse tribal beats. Pianist Jules Peters deploys a wide-ranging palette of orchestral string and synthesised tones, along with pure pianoforte for some of the stripped down sections the songs demand. Throughout, Mike Peters is at the forefront with his impassioned vocal delivery and ever changing use of electro-acoustic instrumentation, custom developed by British luthiers Auden Guitars, to represent the beating heart of the group’s signature sound.
∑ SIGMA is the latest chapter in an inspirational story that has seen The Alarm sell more than six million albums world wide while clocking up 17 Top Fifty singles in the UK. Formed in 1981 in the Welsh seaside resort of Rhyl, The Alarm broke through on the back of the singles Sixty Eight Guns, Rain In the Summertime and ‘Spirit Of ‘76, their music a passionate blend of amped-up acoustic guitars, harmonica and Mike’s stirring voice. A string of successful albums saw them bracketed alongside U2, The Waterboys, Simple Minds and Big Country as part of Eighties rock’s distinctive Celtic fringe. After an emotional swansong at Brixton Academy in 1991, the original line-up splintered, with Mike going it alone and joining forces with Billy Duffy of the Cult in a short-lived band called Coloursøund. The lingering allure of his old group proved hard to resist, however, and Peters entered a new millennium back at the helm of The Alarm. The group’s activities since that 1999 re-launch have included an ambitious album project, the Poppy Fields Bond, that saw them release five studio albums of original material in the first five months of 2003 and a ‘fake band’ escapade the following year in which they concealed their true identity by releasing a single, 45 RPM, as The Poppy Fields. They created a global news story when the song unexpectedly hit the UK charts. Mike Peters was diagnosed with Chronic Leukaemia in 2005 and although disabled from touring still managed to continue making new music through the albums Guerilla Tactics and Direct Action, which was followed in 2018 with the release of ‘Equals’ which charted on both sides of the Atlantic.

Track listing Vinyl
∑ Side One
Blood Red Viral Black [Featuring Billy Duffy on Guitar]
Can You Feel Me?
Brighter Than The Sun
Time
Psalm
Equals [Featuring Dave Sharp on Guitar]
∑ Side Two
Love And Understanding
Prisoners
Heroine
Armageddon In The Morning
Two Rivers [Reprise]


Track listing CD
Blood Red Viral Black [Featuring Billy Duffy on Guitar]
Can You Feel Me?
Brighter Than The Sun
Time
Psalm
Equals [Featuring Dave Sharp on Guitar]
Love And Understanding
Prisoners
The White Count
Heroine
Armageddon In The Morning
Two Rivers [Reprise]

The original versions of Heroine and Armageddon In The Morning be found on Viral Black. Two Rivers (reprise) is an alternate version of Two Rivers that appears on Viral Black and Equals. The original versions of Brighter Than The Tun, Time, Love And Understanding and Prisoners can be found on Blood Red. Blood Red Viral Black and The White Count can also be found on the Where The Two Rivers Meet EP. Can You Feel Me?, Equals and Psalm are new songs for Sigma

Mike Peters – Vocals, Harmonica, Baritone, Acoustic & Electric guitars
James Stevenson – Acoustic, Electric, Slide & Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals
Steve “Smiley” Barnard – Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals
Jules Jones Peters – Piano, Backing Vocals
George Williams – Keyboard, Bass guitar
Billy Duffy – Electric Guitar on Blood Red Viral Black
Dave Sharp – Electric Guitar on Equals

Recorded at Bethel Chapel Studios, Dyserth Wales, Parr Street Studios A and C, Liverpool, England, The Doghouse Studios, Henley on Thames. England, Monnow Valley Studios, Rockfield, Wales, Elevator Studios, Liverpool, England
Produced & Mixed by George Williams
Engineered by Mark Warden (Bethel Chapel and The Doghouse), Tony Draper (Parr Street) , Matt Glasbey (Monnow Valley), Tom Roche (Elevator)
Mastered by Howie Weinberg Mastering, Los Angeles, California, USA
Art & Design by Dan Shearn
Cover Photography by Andy Labrow

Reviews
Alfie Vera Mella reviewed for CrypticRock.com
Consisting of 12 tracks, it starts off straightaway with its pumping lead single, “Blood Red Viral Black,” whose guitar works are unmistakably Duffy—electrifying, angular, confident. The same raw energy then flows into the engaging, double-time beat of “Can You Feel Me?” The ensuing “Brighter than the Sun” then casts its sinister and ominous sonic rays in an upbeat manner. Slowing down the mood with its rhythm that ticks like a pendulum is “Time,” aptly giving way to the acoustic sentiments of the Gospel-flavored “Psalm.” Peters and the rest of The Alarm then welcome to the fold the founder-guitarist Sharp, as they launch into the galloping beat, piano flourishes, and slicing guitars of “Equals.” They then step onto the accelerator even harder with “Love and Understanding,” which harkens to the knife’s edge sensibilities of the band’s classic songs such as “Deeside” and “Rescue Me;” faint echoes of The Cult’s “Fire Woman” may also be heard. “Prisoners” is another piano-led Rock stomper that proves that The Alarm could still harness the melodramatic power of the rain in summertime. And then there is the big, wiry, undulating, and electric sound of “The White Count.” Following next is the acoustic guitar–oriented ballad “Heroine” – another inspired song that stands proud and tall like a Joshua tree and faintly glows with a bluesy rattle and hum. The second-to-the-last track, “Armageddon in the Morning” is a harmonica-and-synth-glazed Blues Rock epic at seven and a half minutes—refreshing, engaging, and catchy. Finally, The Alarm wraps up Sigma with the slow song “Two Rivers,” whose walking piano melodies will surely stay forever on one’s side—inspiring and heartrending at the same time—indeed a perfect album closer. Peters is definitely one of Post-Punk’s unsung heroes, considering his low profile; but with The Alarm, his voice and their music, he is definitely up there in the pantheon occupied by the likes of Bono, Stuart Adamson (Big Country), Michael Been (The Call), Michael Hutchence (INXS), and Ian Astbury (The Cult), all of whose respective voices soar enormously like pained, tortured souls. Sigma is yet another vessel of The Alarm’s affecting music, and that is why Cryptic Rock gives this album 4 out of 5 stars

Tony Cummings reviewed for CrossRhythms.co.uk
For my money, The Alarm are one of the greatest purveyors of stadium rock. From the moment in 1985 when they delivered the now classic postpunk anthem “Absolute Reality” to when they disbanded in 1991, I, like their legion of fans, were thrilled by Mike Peters’ gritty, powerhouse vocals over surging guitars and thunderous drumming. So it was wonderful when in 2004, despite his courageous battles with cancer, Peters reactivated The Alarm. Now with a new line-up, they are delivering excellent albums. With ‘Sigma’, they’ve brought back the band’s original guitarist Dave Sharp, and with the Cult’s Billy Duffy the band have returned to the rawer powerhouse sounds which made those early albums so exciting. There are plenty of standouts here. The pumping opener “Blood Red Viral Black” exudes raw energy while the tracks chosen for the Cross Rhythms playlist – “Can You Feel Me”, “Love And Understanding” and “Psalm” – show that, despite his health battles, Peters remains one of the best, and most effecting, rock singers in Christendom. The Independent described the acoustic “Psalm” as being “imbued with imagery of faith, building guitars and gospel vocals to life-affirming effect.” Almost as good is “Armageddon This Morning”, a harmonica and synth blues rock opus which is seven and a half minutes long and never palls. An outstanding album from the rock music survivors

Tom Mclean reviewed for Marcmagazine.com
A year after the release of their album Equals, The Alarm return with their sequential collection, Sigma. A heady cocktail of rhythmic beats and soaring vocals, borne out of Mike Peters’ personal and familial battles with serious illness, Sigma conveys an invigorating relish for life and an affirmation of inner strength. While the context of the album may be dark, Sigma cannot help but lift your mood and engage your senses.
Opening number Blood Red Viral Black feels like a call to arms, and the album that follows provides the inspiration to maintain an irrepressible assault of positivity against all ills. Sure-fire hits Psalm and Equals are particular highlights on an album that is surely a love letter to optimism, perseverance and love itself 4/5

(Page updated 05/04/2022)