Ducking Punches – Alamort

Since their inception as a solo vehicle for frontman Dan Allen, Norwich's Ducking Punches have slowly, year on year, moved towards being a fully fledged punk-rock band. Given the act's first two "folk-punk" acoustic albums, it's perhaps not surprising to learn that Allen earned himself a support slot with Frank Turner, with whom he shares much musically. With 2016's Fizzy Brain, however, Ducking Punches officially became a four-piece, announcing it with an opener that goes from acoustic to full electrified band in its first few seconds.

For now, it seems, the band are fully committed to their post-hardcore surroundings as with new album Alamort there isn't an acoustic guitar in sight. Recorded with one of the country's best in terms of the punk-rock genre, Bob Cooper, Alamort is a decidedly "big" sounding record, and it suits the band's current ambitions to throw off the "folk" shackles that have been attached to them until now. While it doesn't push many boundaries within their new genre habitation, it does show a clear progression in the band's sound to strive for something bigger and better, sounding about as close to the UK's answer to Alexisonfire as we'll perhaps get.

On singles Smoking Spot and Sobriety you get two opposed examples of the same things, songs about the balances between fun and dependency. Later on, I Ruin Everything shows that while the acoustics may be gone, this doesn't mean Allen is suddenly allergic to the idea of the slow ballad, replacing steel strings for reverb.

Listen to: Smoking Spot, Sobriety, I Ruin Everything