Fast-rising South London rockers The Karma Effect have today confirmed a new 13-date UK headline tour for Autumn 2026 in support of their eagerly-awaited forthcoming third album “Cruel Intentions”, which is set for release on May 15th, 2026, via Earache Records.
With just a handful of tickets now remaining for the band’s previously-announced album launch show at Tunbridge Wells Forum on 15th May, The Karma Effect are pleased to now announce a full UK headline tour for this autumn, ably supported by special guests Juliet’s Not Dead. Tickets are on-sale here for the band’s autumn 2026 ‘Cruel Intentions Album Tour’ – full list of dates is below.
UK Tour Dates 2026:
Thur 29 Oct – the Carlisle – Hastings
Fri 30 Oct – Waterfront Studio – Norwich
Sat 31 Oct – Boileroom – Guildford
Sun 01 Nov – Portland Arms – Cambridge
Thur 05 Nov – Bannermans – Edinburgh
Fri 06 Nov – Classic Grand – Glasgow
Sat 07 Nov – Beta Rock City – Nottingham
Sun 08 Nov – the Patriot – Crumlin
Thur 12 Nov – Waterloo Music Bar – Blackpool
Fri 13 Nov – Corporation – Sheffield
Thur 26 Nov – Kks Steel Mill – Wolverhampton
Fri 27 Nov – Water Rats – London
Sat 05 Dec – Leo’s Red Lion – Gravesend
The Karma Effect have also today announced further details of their highly-anticipated third album “Cruel Intentions”. The new record is available to pre-order here across a number of CD, vinyl & digital formats, all featuring eleven rollicking new anthems (with a twelfth track, “Chasing Sunsets”, added to the exclusive USB bonus edition format).
When The Karma Effect were quietly born in the pandemic, vocalist Henry Gottelier and guitarist Robbie Blake could hear in their heads how they wanted the project to sound. From their organic, rootsy, eponymously-titled 2022 debut, followed by 2024’s show-stopping surprise Top 20 album “Promised Land”, they now truly arrive with their third record, striding confidently into their role as one of British guitar music’s most exciting outfits.
Although some line-up changes occurred in the background (which saw Nathan Keevil join them on bass, Alan Taylor on drums, and Tom Pitt on keys), a turn of events that could have left them on shaky ground has instead been spun into a silver lining. Brimming with energy and fresh perspectives, the newly assembled line-up convened at The Hive Rooms, in the locale of Gatwick Airport, to nail down what would become “Cruel Intentions” in July 2025.
The new album is a collection which captures the visceral atmosphere of the band’s lauded live performances and is without a doubt the most complete, crystal clear realisation of the band’s ambitions yet: leaner, louder, heavier and joyously larger-than-life. Exploring notions of love, lust and danger, with dark passion and flashes of cheekiness, The Karma Effect’s new songs maintain a fine balance of swagger and wit, further advancing the band’s ‘modern vintage’ ethic – polishing up the retro sounds they were raised on into something gleaming and modern.
Take the swaggering recent single “Dangerous Love” – “It’s about doing things you shouldn’t do, but you can’t stop yourself: passion overtaking your senses and your mind getting away from you”, explains Henry. Barnstorming opener “Ride or Die” is a weighty statement of intent, an early display of Gottelier’s classic ‘70s Stones meets 80’s Fairbairn-era Aerosmith songwriting chops, whilst the album’s title track “Cruel Intentions”, meanwhile, is about a stalker. It’s not entirely steeped in darkness, however – sometimes, there are flashes of cheekiness. “Better Luck Next Time”, for example, is a tongue-in-cheek meditation on feeling the sharp end of sod’s law, following someone’s day as it spirals into the stuff of farce.
“This album is the culmination of everything we have”, says singer Henry Gottelier. “While collaborating again with producer Michael Charman, we brought in Mercury and GRAMMY nominated Romesh Dodangoda specifically for the mix, because we were obsessed with making every single note count. The result is a sound so big, it’s a stadium experience for your ears”.
Weblinks:
thekarmaeffect.co.uk
www.facebook.com/thekarmaeffectuk
