Hi everyone, Bigthony Choptano here, the internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time for a review of this new KNEECAP album, FENIAN. This is the second full-length studio album from Irish hip-hop trio KNEECAP, which has been pretty much produced by none other than Dan Carey, a guy who's worked with the likes of black midi, Black Country, New Road.

Now, following the group's successful 2024 breakout album Fine Art, as well as a self-titled biopic of sorts that won a BAFTA, this new album cycle for KNEECAP should be an all-out celebration of all the strides they've made in the past few years. But in so many ways, their momentum up until this point has been kneecapped. Sorry.

For one, they lost their US visa sponsor back in 2025 after a Coachella set where they displayed images onstage against the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Then, of course, there was the UK leveling terrorism charges against one of the group's members, Mo Chara — charges that were ultimately dropped in September of last year. If you've been following KNEECAP's exploits, you know that one of the trio's most notable qualities has been their ability to stir controversy and garner attention, with their radical politics as well as their Irish nationalist sentiments, all of which seem to have intensified as the group has gotten more and more exposure.

Now, readying up for this new record, obviously the group had to cancel a whole North American tour, so instead they jumped into the studio to reinvent their sound. And originally, they finished an entire record to follow up Fine Art, for 2025, but with a different producer, and decided ultimately, due to all these changes and the sound of the project being so similar to Fine Art, they just scrapped it. I guess a few songs from those sessions ended up making it onto this album, like "Occupied 6," as well as "Gael Phonics," which we will get into, but everything else, from what I understand, is new. Ultimately, the trio sought to expand their sound on this record, which I think they definitely did, showcasing a wider array of influences across this tracklist. The production and presentation of a lot of these tracks sounds ready for an arena-sized performance. I guess the question is whether or not KNEECAP is biting off more than they can chew on this record. Can they embody this larger set of influences in a way that feels authentic and showcases finesse? Are they ready for the sorts of spaces songs this big are meant for?

Of course, with the title too, the group is staying true to their Irish heritage — originally a label for medieval Irish warriors — but has since been turned into a slur against Irish Catholics and Republicans. And of course, KNEECAP's usage of it here is a part of a modern reclamation. And that's still what a lot of the messaging and sentiments in KNEECAP's music boils down to, including unapologetically rapping in Gaelic. In the group's eyes, it's about owning their heritage and rejecting imperialism.

So, this bigger sound I was talking about this album bringing to the table, we do hear it right out of the gate on the intro track, on "Smugglers & Scholars," which is a very huge contrast from the dry, punchy rave-inspired production and grooves of Fine Art. And while these newfound dynamics are refreshing in some respects, I found the beats to be kind of lumbering and underwhelming as well. The slower pacing and greater atmosphere give the group a lot of room to play with, but they don't really fill it with anything. And as a result, their sound comes across smaller than I think it really is in this very grand sonic space they placed it within.

The following, "Carnival," I think does a much better job at scratching a similar itch, as it features more interesting textures and messaging too. I love the rattling hi-hats on this track, the hand percussion, the crowd chants of "Free Mo Chara," as lyrically the group goes basically into the details around, the now-dropped terrorism charges I referenced earlier, with lots of forceful, animated flows. After this in the tracklist, we have "Palestine," which of course features Palestinian rapper Fawzi, and while this track is undoubtedly a great moment of cross-cultural solidarity, I think it still suffers from many of the same issues "Smugglers & Scholars" did, and results in a pretty middle-of-the-road sound and experience.

After this first leg, though, I will say I think this record truly hits its stride, essentially going back to KNEECAP's trademark brand of rowdy, ravy hooligan raps with plenty of radical politics and amped vocal performances, but now just like a little bit elevated, a little bit more detailed. Whether it's "Liars Tale," an anthem where they're essentially taking to task figures like Netanyahu and Keir Starmer, figures who they paint as being more nefarious than they lead on to be, and essentially lays bare their imperialist ambitions saying, "We all fall prey to them if we don't reject them. Then we have the title track, which features your classic spelling-type hook, spelling out "FENIAN" while simultaneously giving nods to revolutionary figures like James Connolly, and also dropping lines like "I'll huff, I'll puff, I'll blow your house up," which in the context of this song — and, I mean, I don't know how much you guys in the audience know about the history of radical Irish politics — saying that around a bar that's essentially about dancing around a bonfire is crazy work. Clearly tongue-in-cheek, but also crazy goddamn work.

The momentum from here continues with "Big Bad Mo," where I love the way these trance techno influences seep into this track. Then the tense breakbeats that paint most of "Headcase" sound not only fantastic but are a great contrast too. I also see this song as like a slight narrative switch around the way the group raps about drugs, which is obviously a topic they are no strangers to when it comes to partying or even dealing in them. But at least this track specifically seems to into this story about drugs kind of destroying someone's life in a way, contributing to their downfall and destructive behavior. At least that's how I read it.

The track "An Ra," while this may not be my favorite on the record production-wise, I do really appreciate the messaging here, as the lyrics read like a very snide and snarky thank you to the UK for basically taking over imperialistically and civilizing them, the Irish people that is, while the many bars on this track sort of cite the great things that came of that. And all the sociopolitical phenomena they are now downstream to, like BBC pedophile rings, TV taxes, fish and chips, so on and so forth. Then "Cold at the Top," I saw as maybe the best low-key song on this record. "Occupied 6," I could kind of take or leave. I could see how this track is very much like a product of a slightly older era of KNEECAP, uh, sitting shoulder to shoulder with many of these other songs. I see "Gael Phonics" as the same, but it is, I think, a more memorable instance of songwriting and thematically reminds me of a lot of the jokes and, you know, pivotal plot points that were strewn about the group's movie, as this track essentially deals in the many benefits to learning Gaelic in its use for everyday life, but also dealing with authorities and staying out of trouble. The Duolingo line on here is not only insane, but also I really appreciate how the instrumental has this big Eminem influence going on. Feels like something straight out of the Marshall Mathers LP era.

The group then tries to use the few final moments of this album to really switch things up. First with "Cocaine Hill," where they're kinda doing their thing over these funny little guitar snippets and what sounds like some wavy surf rock stems. It's got a chilly, clean chorus as well. It sounds very Gorillaz-coded, but the overall execution and writing aren't nearly as catchy or compelling. Something I wouldn't mind hearing them take another whack at, or, y'know, maybe even an appearance on a future Gorillaz song would be cool. Overall, I would say this is a track where their influences kinda being repeated, reappropriated here doesn't go over quite as well. Then following this, we have the perfectly titled "Irish Goodbye" as the closer, where the production really tries to set a sentimental scene. Also, we have a great feature from Kae Tempest here, someone who I haven't covered in a minute, and he drops a great verse on this track. A song that obviously, you know, is trying to play on the idea, the concept of an Irish goodbye, this silent slipping out, almost like, you know, premature exit, tying that into the themes of loss and suicide. While I do wish the song reached maybe a bit of a higher peak toward the finish, or lasted a bit longer, when you dig into the verses here, this track is frickin' heart-wrenching. Like, actually soul-destroying with how tragic it is. But its points are put so poetically and so beautifully, you can't help but admire it. And that is essentially this record.

Overall, while I don't know if I could say, considering the whole tracklist, this is like far and away a much better project than Fine Art; I think there are maybe one too many so-so songs here that kind of weigh the overall experience of this record down. Still, with that being said, this project is more ambitious, I would say, at least on a sonic and production standpoint, than Fine Art was. And the highs are certainly higher. The stakes, I would say, also were higher for this project, with so many different elements of the music industry and even the world of politics, like, working against Kneecap's success. And despite all of that, the trio somehow, like, eked out another very good quality impressive project, which is why I'm feeling a strong 7 to a light 8 on this one, I would say.

Anthony Fantano, KNEECAP. Forever.