Kneecap
"I'll tell you what freedom means to me: no fear" - Nina Simone
How do you react to a year in which the chaos of an entire life exploded? Courtroom dramas and blacklists, media madness and political surveillance, prime ministers interfering in festival line-ups, attempts at censorship and the suppression of freedom of expression? Kneecap don't let any of this get to them. There is more beautiful art to create. So how do you react? As the saying goes: is fearr lúbadh ná briseadh - it is better to bend than to break.
Kneecap return in 2026 to bend genres, language and rules. There will be no backing down. No holding back. No cowardice. No retreat. The world's most talked about artists are opening a new chapter. A new chapter, new sounds, new manifestos.
The trio from Belfast and Derry are back with a stirring album that wallows in darkness while breaking through the void with luminous reverie. This is FENIAN.
Produced by Dan Carey (Fontaines D.C., Kae Tempest, Wet Leg), FENIAN turns all expectations on their head with an incredibly expansive sonic palette that ranges from acid house to trip-hop to dubstep and beyond, reaffirming Kneecap as utterly authentic and exceptionally creative artists of their generation.
A master of rave and rap theater, FENIAN represents Kneecap's most sophisticated exploration of language and sounds to date. What began in 2017 as a DIY project with rudimentary hip-hop beats has evolved into a global movement. With FENIAN, Kneecap are reclaiming their creative territory and massively evolving on their own unique path as headlines bubbled and festival sound systems boomed.
After their BAFTA and Sundance Award-winning self-titled biopic, their critically acclaimed debut album Fine Art, a Coachella performance that changed culture and put Kneecap at the forefront of the solidarity movement for Palestine as an artist, a jaw-dropping performance at Glastonbury and becoming the most talked about rap group in the world - not to mention the protests, murals, court cases, countless covers, relentless worldwide media coverage and huge shows around the globe - Kneecap have decided to do what they do best: Write incredible songs that bring thousands upon thousands of fans together to rock the house.
More darkness. More confrontation. More fun. More energy. More solidarity. More absolute bangers. And more fuel for the relentless engine that drives this unstoppable force. For their remarkable second album, Kneecap have come out fighting.
It begins with a call to defend the Irish language in "Éire go Deo", followed by "Smugglers & Scholars", which kicks the album's doors open. This is a sonic balaclava, full of menace and fearlessness.
Then it's on to "Carnival," a stink-finger to the political, media and police distractions that put Kneecap in the spotlight in the midst of a genocide, while at the same time creating a chorus that immediately catches your ear.
"Palestine (feat. Fawzi)" is possibly Kneecap's most powerful track to date, a stirring and incredibly moving expression of transnational solidarity that tears apart the oppressive force of colonialism and unites those who suffer under it as victors in the same struggle.
If anyone is crazy enough to think Kneecap would buckle under the pressure of the British political establishment, listen to "Liars Tale". This rollicking punk rave track dismantles Kier Starmer's craven attempts to silence and suppress Kneecap's movement. It's followed by the album's title track, an instant Kneecap anthem with a hook that will get fists in the air and the walls of stadium-sized raves shaking.
The urgent acid house of "Big Bad Mo" shifts from euphoria to a relentless chase of beats before landing in the chaos of "Headcase," a brilliantly frantic track about imploding masculinity, addiction and the dangers of taking the road to nowhere.
"An Ra" subverts what you might think is the theme of the track: In this case, RA actually stands for Ríocht Aontaithe (Irish for the United Kingdom). Building on the Irish legacy of breaking the void of British colonialism, Kneecap's biting satire takes aim at British neoliberalism and its far-right and authoritarian reflexes, manifesting in toxic capitalism and imperialist oppression - all in an absolute bop.
"Cold at the Top" takes this satirical impulse and turns it inward - with a rollicking, self-deprecating story about the narcissism of fame and the hedonism that inevitably comes with celebrity status. Then we find ourselves in the "Occupied 6", hiding under the cover of darkness as the violence of the British occupation of the six counties is evoked with cinematic genius. Here, the trauma of war rises to the surface - a haunting harshness punctuated by the poignancy of the dark humor it takes to survive.
"Gael Phonics" is a lesson in Irish like no other, while "Cocaine Hill" brings up the dazed fear of the grip of cocaine-induced insomnia. FENIAN ends with "Irish Goodbye", an unexpectedly tender tribute to the weight of love that holds sorrow.
Sirens and alarms sound throughout, and the chorus booms. Revolutionary and rebellious, confrontational and incredibly catchy, inescapably intelligent and brilliantly realized, FENIAN not only represents the next phase in Kneecap's evolution, but is a remarkable album that excites as much as it surprises. The chaos of their breakthrough year is now just a memory. But Kneecap neither dwell on it nor merely persevere. In FENIAN, they surpass themselves and reach a new peak of undeniable mastery.
After closing 2025 with two sold-out nights in front of 24,000 Fenians in Dublin's massive 3Arena and kicking off the year with a tour of Japan, Kneecap will play their biggest headlining show to date at Crystal Palace Park in London in 2026, as well as headlining several festivals. Pressure creates diamonds, and FENIAN shines with Kneecap's uncut gems.
