Few releases this year feel as charged with anticipation as Cruel Intentions, the upcoming album from The Karma Effect. Having already built a reputation for rich, groove-driven rock and undeniable songwriting flair, the band now stand on the brink of what feels like a defining moment. This record doesn't just meet expectations—it raises them, delivering a bold, confident statement that captures exactly why they’ve become such an exciting force.

Cruel Intentions is, without question, their strongest work to date. There’s clarity of identity running through every track, with the band fully embracing their influences while sharpening their own distinctive sound. You can hear echoes of classic rock royalty in the swagger, the hooks, and the sheer attitude—but it never feels derivative. Instead, those inspirations are reimagined with a fresh energy that feels completely their own. What truly sets this album apart is its consistency. From start to finish, it’s packed with standout moments—big choruses, infectious riffs, and a sense of purpose that never lets up. It’s the sound of a band absolutely hitting their stride.

Put simply, Cruel Intentions isn’t just a great album — it’s a near-perfect one, and a milestone release that cements The Karma Effect as a band to watch. We catch up with vocalist/guitarist Henry Gottelier at his home studio to get the full story on how Cruel Intentions came together. As you would expect, we receive the warmest of welcomes from a man who’s brimming with pride, and it’s with absolutely no disappointment that he points out that the studio will soon be converted into a nursery as fatherhood beckons! We pull up a chair and our conversation begins...

The Karma Effect’s new album Cruel Intentions is due for release on the 15th of May, in just a couple of weeks time. What sort of thoughts are going through your mind at album release time?

Given that this is our third time of doing this, it’s always a little bit daunting. Weirdly you kind of forget what you’ve done in the past, you forget how you felt, but it is quite nerve wracking because you want it to be well received but there’s levels to how well received it is, whether it’s commercial success or fan success or whatever – you want the full package: you want the commercial success and you want all the fans to love it too. Around this time, as it kind of ramps up to release day, you just put things into fifth gear. It’s tiring and there’s a lot going on and you want to be out there and be seen to be promoting it as best as you can, but emotion wise, I’d just say is it a bit nerve wracking because you pour your heart and soul into writing it. We finished the writing sessions last May so it will be a year with the whole process before it comes out. I guess you just want people to enjoy as much as you’ve enjoyed making it.

Cruel Intentions is an absolutely exceptional album and the first track I’d like to talk about is the albums opener, Ride or Die. The first time I heard this on Planet Rock it hit me like a sledgehammer. It’s such a wonderfully rocking track, wholly upbeat and with lyrics such as ‘it only takes one night to leave the world behind’, I felt like I could take on the world after listening to that track. It feels like the band waving a flag and a real statement of intent. To what extent is this the essence of Ride Or Die?

The way we try and write is that we want things to be upbeat. There is an element in our music where we don’t take ourselves necessarily too seriously. We’re not a political band. We want people to listen to our music to have a good time. That’s the music that I listen to and I want the emotions to be positive and I wanted to be groovy – I wanted to get those things because the world that we live in, I feel like we all just need a little piece of joy and happiness that might put a smile on your face and that might get your feet tapping. So realistically, the essence of that particular track is that we are all on this journey together and we’ve all just got to join hands and go ‘we’re gonna ride or we’re gonna die’. We’re just going to set off into the sunset, trailblazers – it’s that kind of essence. And it’s a bit raunchy and it’s a bit kind of like if this was our last night on planet Earth we’re going to go out with a bang. It’s supposed to just make you feel like this is just really cool it’s like a soundtrack to a movie that’s not been written. That’s the kind of vibe that that song in particular brought to me as I was writing it. It’s got that kind of laid-back, sun setting vibe. It’s a track for a party, it’s a track that you can rock out to, and I was chuffed when they decided that they wanted it to be a single.

Ride or Die is the third single, following both Waiting on a Miracle and Dangerous Love, both of which were winners of the Classic Rock magazine readers’ Track of the Week. The amount of anticipation that these 3 tracks have built for the full album is absolutely outstanding, with specific comments from fans being ‘truly epic’, ‘these guys are absolutely the best newer band around’, ‘this is why rock was invented’, ‘Henry has one of the best voices in British rock n roll’, ‘it feels wonderful to discover this’, ‘absolutely brilliant’, ‘this is awesome’ and ‘absolutely mega!’, and I could go on. How does it make you feel to hear such incredible love for the band and the new album?

It’s really important and it’s really inspiring because it makes you just want to do more, give more, put more into it. I’m proud that we as a band, every single penny that we earn goes back into making music and to touring. We do this because we absolutely love doing it. So those comments, that’s our currency, that’s our fuel and that’s what gets us going. It genuinely means the world that this music is resonating in the way that it is because I believe when I set out, and I do the lion’s share of the songwriting, when I set out to write this – and I’ll never forget it - when I sat back and listened to the finished demos before we went into the studio and we chose of the songs that we wanted to record that the label it signed off on, I just remember thinking this is a really special piece of music and collection of songs. To here those comments and and to see the people getting behind it, just with the 3 songs we’ve put out, I feel like we’re onto a little bit of a winner which is fantastic!

I think a great quality about the album Cruel Intentions is that it really showcases the strength and stretch of your songwriting. Lady Bohemian is just an absolutely gorgeous track, all about a mysterious and captivating woman, and I absolutely love the lyrics ‘you’ll always be right here by my side’ and ‘always have the sun in California’. For me it just creates that most wonderful picture of escapism and of being given permission to dream, and it just stirs up a passion to believe that whatever you want is out there. To what extent is that the essence of Lady Bohemian and also who or what was the inspiration for the song?

I think the song is very personal to me and I wasn’t even sure if we should put it out because stylistically, when I was writing it, I was concerned there wasn’t going to be a fit but when the guys heard it they were like ‘this is brilliant!’. It brings a completely unique vibe and another kind of twist and turn to the record. But it’s about my personal life really. It’s about my relationship with my wife and this song is sort of a love letter and thank you. I know how much of a complex character I can be at times and how much what I do with the band and with the music takes me away from other elements of our lives, and I guess it’s just a nod to that fact and it’s a thank you that she’s let me do this. She’s seen me in all sorts of states and places as she believes in it. And that’s what it’s all about.

One specific track which had a huge impact on me is Raised On Rock ‘n’ Roll. It just tells a great story that so many of your fans, and fans of rock in general, will resonate with. You sing about people finding records under their parents’ bed, about refusing to turn down the radio, you name check Skid Row’s Slave To The Grind and I love the Aerosmith-style horns. This could absolutely be a song written about me, and it’s a powerful reminder that once you’ve been bitten, that’s it! Discovering rock ‘n’ roll is the most wonderful life sentence without parole. How autobiographical is this track, and tell me about how you came to discover rock ‘n’ roll.

You mention that it’s almost kind of autobiographical, and it’s exactly the same for me. The song is a reflection on my experience, and as you rightly say, once you’ve been bitten you’re never going back! That is exactly what happened to me! It’s a girl in the story and I think that’s also quite pivotal. What I will say is that I went with a female character rather than a male because I feel like it’s still a very male dominated kind of thing, rock ‘n’ roll, and I thought, it’s quite important to share that this can be anybody - male, female, whatever – and it fit the vibe of the song. But the story is universal in the sense that you get hooked on it, you listen to it, you find your dad’s records, you get that and it changes your life, you want to get a guitar and then you want to start a band, and before you know it you’re sneaking off out to go and play at places you shouldn’t be able to go to! And that’s exactly what happened to me. My story is just that when I was a very little kid, we would holiday down in the West Country and my parents had a car, and I’m one of four children so we’d all cram in the back of my parents people carrier. In those days we had cassettes in the car – my parents are musical but no one played an instrument until me – I just remember we had Queen Greatest Hits One, T-Rex’s Greatest Hits and U2’s Rattle and Hum. And that was it! Those were the three! Those were literally the three tapes we had and we wore them out. But for me it was Queen. It’s always been Queen from the very beginning. I would be great on that Mastermind programme about facts about Queen because when I was a kid I was obsessed. I bought all the books, I bought all the memorabilia, all the records – everything! And I had this moral dilemma where I was like ‘do I want to be a guitar player like Brian May or do I want to be a front man and a singer like Freddie Mercury? I went with Brian May initially but then realised no one wanted to be the singer, so I was like ‘right, i’ve got to try and do that and put some sort of voice together as well’. I owe everything to that band and I always look at it like this: Queen was like a big windy river for me and that river had loads of little creeks and tributaries and that was me discovering other things. You’d buy a compilation album because it had a Queen song on it that I hadn’t heard but then on there you’d get Iron Maiden or Thin Lizzy or whatever, and that’s how I got into it. Queen was like the gateway to that world and it was my paraphernalia, my drug, and I owe it all to Queen.

Reflecting on my own journey of been raised on rock ‘n’ roll, a key band for me was Aerosmith, in particular 1989’s Pump album. In fact Love In An Elevator was the first single I ever bought. And it’s with this in mind that I want to talk about the track Better Luck Next Time. With its guitar chord stab intro, the harmonica accompaniment and the swaggering shuffle of the drums, this absolutely reminds me of the Aerosmith track Young Lust. The Karma Effect have always been open about your Aerosmith influences, but to what extent is this song paying homage and tribute to this legendary band?

I would proudly say that they’ve been a huge influence on this band! I’m a firm believer that there are so many great classic rock bands and there are people who do things really well. There are some fantastic new bands doing this kind of retro thing, but the one thing I feel is lacking in rock music, which Aerosmith had back in the day, is that kind of funky swagger thing. I always say that The Karma Effect are a retro rock band but we have an element of funk that is quintessential to our music and we get that directly from Aerosmith. That is where it comes from. To me that’s what makes them so great to listen to, especially some of the early records or some of the later records – it’s all in there. They’ve got this kind of funk – it comes from the groove, from the phrasing and the way the lyrics work. So with a song like Better Luck Next Time, it is a bit of a homage to Aerosmith because we wanted to write something that had that feel, and I feel like for the first time we probably got quite close with that song. The one thing I feel I will never be able to do is be the master of the lyric quite like Steven Tyler because he is the master of the lyric in my opinion! I think the song is a real dark horse on this record. I think it’s got all of the elements of rock ‘n’ roll that I love – it’s got the blues, it’s got the funk, the soul and the swagger - and I think when people hear that one they’re going to really dig it!

Since the band’s inception there have of course been some lineup changes but there seems to be a huge stability and all the planets being aligned with the induction of Nathan Keevil joining on bass, Alan Taylor on drums and Tom Pitt on keys. What qualities are required to be a member of The Karma Effect and how did Nathan, Alan and Tom influence the sound and songwriting on Cruel Intentions?

That’s a really great question! Well, first of all, Nathan has been around the band for years, pretty much since the band started. He’s been a silent sixth member. He helped tour manage, he was always a part of our crew and a part of our team. It was a natural progression because Nathan in his own right is a phenomenal multi instrumentalist. He’s a fantastic guitar player, he’s a fantastic bass player and he’s a great singer as well. For a time I was helping him with some songwriting bits he was working on. So when it came to put mark II together, Nathan didn’t put himself forward as such but it was sort of a no brainer for us. “Would you like to do it?” – I think he was hoping we would ask and obviously he wanted to do it, and since he’s joined, with his technical ability on the bass and his backing vocals he’s helped raise it to another level. Referring to Tom, we were very, very blessed to have the first two records with Sebastian Evans on the keys. Seb to this day remains one of my closest friends and I love him dearly. He was a very special talent and when he decided to take a step back we never quite managed to get that sound again when we were on tour and that was a concern because keys have always been like the card up our sleeve and we’ve always had a great keys player. Tom filled that position. He came to us and said “I’m looking for a band” and to find a rock keyboard player in 2026, they are like hens teeth. He just wanted to play proper Jon Lord-like keys in a band and I was like “Mate, you don’t even need to audition you are exactly what we’re after!”. And then Alan probably has the most experience out of everybody. He has been a touring drummer for a number of different bands and artists like Laurence Jones who is an incredible blues rock guitar player. When we asked Alan if he wanted to join we made it clear that this is a band and it’s not a session, and I think Alan just believed in what we were doing. He’d heard the music and he’d seen the gigs and need just wanted a piece of that and he really brings an energy. Sometimes you’re like trying to corral him because he just get so into it and I absolutely love that. I’ve always fed off the energy of the rhythm section – it’s the most important part for me: good drums, good band – that’s how I’ve always kind of looked at it. I still to this day, no matter what band I’m seeing, whether it’s a big band or a small band, I find myself looking at the drummer most of the night! I don’t know why I love it but Alan brings that element to this band. So for us right now, and going into this new cycle, we are so chuffed. We’re a lot more about the music and we’re a lot more about the kind of work ethic and the presence of everything. It’s just cracked it up another notch!

One thing that’s particularly special is how you have made lots of different formats available to the fans, including making the album available on USB as an extra. I know that having music available in this format has been particularly in demand due to the fact that many people don’t have CD players in their car anymore, and it’s wonderful to see so many of these formats already being sold out. This just feels like The Karma Effect putting fans at the centre of the release of Cruel Intentions. To what extent is that a fair thing to say?

I think it’s extremely fair to say. Without the fans and without giving them as much of an opportunity to own something we’ve made, I feel like without them we can’t do this. Because if we don’t sell records, we don’t have a record label. We’ve been lucky enough to get to this place where we have a fantastic independent label in Earache who are very much about their bands and about their fans. They look at the demographics very well, they look at what people want and then they talk to us about it. My firm belief is that I want to make something special, so when we done the special editions, coloured vinyls and things like that, and they’ve sold out, they’re not coming back. Fans will have that and it will be unique. So that to collector or a diehard fan is something quite special. I was going to say I really wanted one of the mirrored ones for myself but I can’t get one because they’re all sold out! It is a real pinch me moment to see that so many have sold out and I like to think that being able to do these different formats and colours and cater to what people want and we are in a very privileged position to be able to do that and to have a label behind us that are able to help us fund that and make it possible. So I feel very lucky and very privileged and I’m just blown away because we’ve sold a lot of records already and he just goes to show that we must be doing something right! Looking back at where we’ve been and with such big changes, there’s always a concern that you might have people drop off or that people might not believe in you so much, so to say that it’s been completely the opposite is extremely special!

The rise in the band’s popularity has been wonderful to witness. The Karma Effect are an ever-presence on stations like Planet Rock, you’ve had some incredible festival appearances and the last album, Promised Land, went up 20, as I mentioned earlier, your first 2 singles from the new album have won Classic Rock magazine readers’ Track of the Week and some special edition versions of the albums already selling out. Tell me about the band’s fantastic upward trajectory through your own eyes and what are your expectations for Cruel Intentions album as a whole?

Again, that’s a very cool question! For me, it’s very easy to want so much all the time but I’m very, very pleased where we’re at what and what we’re doing is on the rise. We’re always getting bigger and better opportunities which is the way I kind of measure where we’re at. It’s a long game. You’re always playing a long game with this. We’re not trying to cut corners – we’re here to build a fan base and we’re here to do things properly. We’re not about TikTok numbers and followers on social media. We are about real people connecting with our music. So ultimately for me, the people turning up to the shows, and the fact they we’re selling out shows, shows where we’re at. We’ve got a number of shows coming up with a low ticket availability or they’ve sold out. We’ve got a tour later this year where we are hoping to see more of this. That’s how I measure what we’re doing with regards to success. You can look at the top 20 albums and things like that and look at how many copies that you’ve sold - and don’t get me wrong, it’s hard not to, especially when you’ve had a taste of that – but we measure it in terms of real people in the room or real people talking to you about their experience with the band. It’s about being able to break new territory too because we broke Europe this year. We’re going back this summer but we want to go back again for a proper tour maybe next year. And I know that we have sold a fair few copies in the States so we’ve got to start thinking if that would ever be feasible. So all of these minor wins are just another little push on that rise.

Let’s talk about The Karma Effect in a live setting. I’ve had the enormous good fortune to witness firsthand what a wholly incendiary and invigorating experience it is to be at a Karma Effect show. This autumn sees the band playing 13 dates across the UK, taking with you the awesome Juliet’s Not Dead. You will of course have teased some of the new material when you played at the Gibson Garage on 5th of February, and you’ve hinted there at some summer shows, but how much you looking forward to really bringing the new music to life on stage, and how will you remain patient given that the tour is 6 months away?

We’ve got a couple of fly dates in Europe this summer which are great. We’ve got a great show in London with Jared James Nichols. We’ve got shows all throughout the summer to kind of keep our foot in the door but what we intend to do is really work on what songs we’re going to play from the new record for the album tour. Realistically, we want to try and play all of them and we want to try and work out how we’re going to do that, but for us it’s just about redoing our entire live show – and ‘show’ being the optimum word. We never call it a gig. It’s not. It’s a show. We want it to be like you are seeing a stadium show in a club or in a theatre or wherever, and that’s going to be the thing we spend most of our time doing. We are going to be trialling things throughout the summer and by the time we get to the November tour we’re going to be hopefully firing on all cylinders with a killer new 90 to 100 minutes of music!