IN LITTLE over a year since receiving rave reviews for their last release, Mike Peters and The Alarm are back with a new album.

On Friday, June 28, The Alarm will release Sigma - exactly one year and a day after the release of its 2018 prequel Equals.

The spiritual successor to Equals – which received some of best reviews the band have had in more than a decade – Sigma will carry forward the prolific Dyserth singer's musical exploration of a deeply intense period of his life.

Despite a relapse from leukaemia while his wife Jules was also being diagnosed with and treated for breast cancer, the pair have nevertheless remained busy, with Mike receiving an MBE for his work with their charity the Love Hope Strength Foundation and their upcoming second festival Zip Roc at Penrhyn Quarry, near Bethesda on June 15.

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Mike said: " All I have ever tried to do in my life as a musician and songwriter is to write honestly and openly. I never thought my personal life would become so wrapped up with the lifeblood of The Alarm and the charity Love Hope Strength.

"Sigma exists for that reason - it’s about the will to stay alive, the summation of all that I have aspired to and all that I have to give'.

The beginnings of Sigma can be traced back to the origins that fostered 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 followed the release of their last album with staggering amount of live shows taking in more than 150 shows.

Having 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 revealing opening cut Blood Red Viral Black.

Mike added: “All the songs had a similar emotional core although there are also fundamental differences. 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 sees the band once again team-up with producer George Williams - who has worked with The Alarm throughout this entire period - as well as The Cult’s very own instrumental maestro Billy Duffy on the album opener , who also supplied the solo on Equals track Coming Backwards.

Mike said: “Having Billy Duffy play guitar with The Alarm has become part of our DNA. It’s a relationship that goes back to the start of this new century, when the beginnings of new eras for both The Alarm and The Cult were being formed.

"Blood Red Viral Black defines our relationship as friends and opposites, human beings united through the colour of sound.”

To catch up with Mike and the Alarm, grab a copy of Sigma on June 28.