Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
We live in a time when commemorations and anniversaries are common place, we seem, quite rightly to remember and revere the past now with more affection and memory than we would have done even a generation ago; yet somehow we don’t seem to really grasp the enormity of those times as much as our collective tears and silent bows of heads suggest we should. We cannot understand just by the odd allusion to the fallen just what some gave in their fight for freedom; No Force On Earth can do that unless we ourselves lived through it or we have the power of a master story teller to be able to focus our attention on what happened and how the people lived.
In Damien Dempsey, one of Ireland’s true and great modern voices, No Force On Earth can withstand the battle cry of the republic when it is carried with majesty and the determination of a man holding the simplest of virtues, honesty, within his hands.
The album is not to be confused as a celebration but as the memory of a nation that fought for its independence, sometimes with shattering results on both sides, a nation that has found its people a place as some of the most artistic and admired in the world and one that was forged in heat, death and the will to see its citizens free of being controlled by a foreign power.
To listen to Mr. Dempsey is an honour, the forthright views, the raging heart and the coolness of spirit is such that whether it is in the live arena or the studio recording you cannot help but feel the hairs rise on the back of the neck and even if you have been on the wrong side of the historical debate, you know that this is a man whose convictions are born out of sincerity and an authentic heart.
No Force On Earth is a very unique album, one that takes a good look at the century that has passed since the Easter uprising and the Irish Revolution and Civil War that encompassed it, it is the thought of an expressive and passionate Irishman who knows how use his voice to hammer home his point and it is one that is always worth listening to.
In tracks such as Aunt Jenny, Paddy Ward, the strength of James Connolly, The Death of Cuchulan and The Island, Damien Dempsey brings hope, memory and beautiful, natural peace to a place where now in history’s shadow we can view the events of that time with proper discourse and genuine love for each other. An album of true beginnings as it captures the days of old.
Ian D. Hall