Mike Peters gave everything he had right to the end. The Alarm’s founding vocalist and driving force passed away on April 29, 2025, following a fearlessly fought 31-year battle with cancer. Now, his final recorded statement arrives. ‘Transformation,’ the band’s new album, releases May 29, 2026 via Twenty First Century Recordings and Virgin Music Group, and its latest single “Live Today” is out now.
The circumstances surrounding “Live Today” make it one of the most emotionally charged pieces of music you’ll encounter this year. The video was filmed just days before Mike underwent CAR-T therapy in a last attempt to defeat Richter’s Syndrome, an aggressive form of lymphoma. He performed on a beach in the North of England at sunrise, with no visible sign of the battle raging inside him. “As the sun rose, watching Mike perform this song with so much optimism and hope will live with me forever,” says Jules Peters, his bandmate and wife. After filming wrapped, they drove straight to Christie Hospital in Manchester. “I was personally terrified,” she says. “I couldn’t shake off a feeling that cancer had finally caught up with us both.”
The recording sessions for ‘Transformation’ began spontaneously on October 7, 2024, and were completed on January 15, 2025, the night before CAR-T therapy began. Across 12 tracks, the album carries the full weight and warmth of everything The Alarm built across more than four decades. “New Life” opens as a rallying call that now carries entirely new meaning. “Chimera” was released on the exact day therapy began, drawing on Greek mythology to reflect Mike’s belief that he would literally become chimeric with two types of DNA flowing through him. “One In A Million” builds from a quiet hymn into a fiery chorus, and the closing ballad “Love Makes Love” ends the album with the warmth of a final embrace.
Peters first rose to prominence in the early 1980s with anthems like “68 Guns” and “Strength,” earning a devoted global following and the admiration of U2, Simple Minds, and The Cult. Bono described The Alarm as “the second greatest rock and roll band in the world.” Off stage, Peters co-founded Love Hope Strength alongside Jules, a music-driven cancer charity that has added over 400,000 people to the global stem cell registry through innovative campaigns at concerts and on mountaintops.
“Transformation is the finest Alarm album of all,” says Jules, “written through adversity, with lashings of hope to stay strong, to believe, to keep moving forwards, to stay alive, to never be afraid and to welcome transformation.” ‘Transformation’ arrives May 29. Blast it loud.
‘Transformation’ Track Listing:
New Life
Chimera
Outlier
Saviour
Metaverse
Wired
One In A Million
Live Today
Soul Town
In Unity
To Be Alive
Love Makes Love