Making that ‘difficult’ second album can’t be made any easier when you’re made out to be a terrorist and enemy of the state. Being put on trial in front of the world would break most bands. Do you let the shitstorm smash you against the rocks? Or do you sail on with that almighty wind behind you?
For the headline-grabbing Belfast controversy-mongers Kneecap, the stakes couldn’t be much higher. While it was their statements and stunts to spotlight the plight of Palestine and call out the actions of the Israeli state that landed them in hot water, their Beastie Boys-esque approach to big tunes and hedonism has led naysayers to write their music off as little more than shit-stirring noise about sex, drugs, wanking, fucking around, and finding out.
Their barnstorming debut album ‘Fine Art’ had all of that in spades but also made for a Trojan Horse statement on the Irish condition of keeping your language, identity and ambition alive in the shadow on post-colonialism (all explored in their bafflingly good self-titled biopic). But now, can they make a record with the weight to match all this attention and hysteria?
The title track of ‘Fenian’ says it all: a party-starting rave-rap rager that sees Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí reclaim the often-derogatory term as a badge of honour, pride and community, all delivered with a wink and a “Tiochfaidh ár lá” (“our day will come”). The political thread of the record runs from the woozy Massive Attack-esque opener ‘Éire go Deo’ honouring past champions of the Irish language creating “a movement that is going from strength to strength all over the country”, through the hip-hop-noir of ‘Smugglers & Scholars’ showing the real Ireland in the face of “poetry and clovers”, to ‘Occupied 6’’s oppressive portrait of life under the Troubles.
‘Carnival’ tackles the “double standard of the highest degree” of Mo Chara being rolled out in court and the band becoming a distraction (“every day in the news, me and Kneecap are not the story, a genocide is happening”), while the industrial banger ‘Liars Tale’ tears down “Netanyahu’s bitch and genocide armer” Keir Starmer – asking why it should take three lads from Ireland to be “doing the politicians jobs that they’re trying to avoid”. They plant the focus back on Gaza with the album’s real triumph on the simply titled ‘Palestine’: a collab with Ramallah-based rapper Fawzi, delivered with a heartfelt and direct candour that “we won’t stop until everyone is free”.
It’s a deeply personal album, too. The DnB rush of ‘Headcase’ warns of the perfect storm of booze, addiction, pressure and no opportunities back home, the trip-hop sigh of ‘Cocaine Hill’ dreamily drifts through Mo Chara’s drug-fuelled insomnia, and the ‘90s rap bounce of ‘Cold At The Top’ asks what you’re really left with when the bag is done. You get to peer beneath the balaclava and get to know the real Kneecap a little more, especially on the beating human heart of the album, ‘Irish Goodbye’ – a devastating reflection on Móglaí Bap’s mother’s depression and taking her own life, and a thank you for inspiring his courage. A lush collab with Kae Tempest, the album closer ends with the tender and heartfelt question: “How come it’s always the best of us that can’t bear to be?”
Produced by Dan Carey (Fontaines D.C., Wet Leg, Foals), ‘Fenian’ is a spraypainted brick wall of consistency, amplifying the adventure of The Prodigy and Burial, seamlessly but tastefully hopping genres while keeping the vibe up to retain Kneecap’s knack for having a good time to illuminate the hard times. Put all the rage-bait headlines aside and what you’re left with is a solid, progressive and fearless album from a group that could just as easily be dicking around instead of making music that matters. In that sense at least, their day has come.
Details
- Release date: May 01, 2026
- Record label: Heavenly