THE CRUEL INTENTIONS - ‘All Hail Hypocrisy’ Album review

With a digital timer on The Cruel Intentions’ Spotify page ticking down the days, hours, minutes and seconds until the release of ‘All Hail Hypocrisy’ into the world later this month, anticipation is building for, what even before its release, will be one of THE best releases of 2026.

Featuring 11 tracks of undeniable ragged rock’n’roll beauty, The Cruel Intentions’ third album is easily their best - a comment all the more remarkable in its making, directness, simplicity and as I write it given the respective strengths of their earlier output.

Provided with access to the album in late February (thanks very much guys), I’ve felt like a child counting down the days to Christmas until I could share this magical music which I have been listening to and not been able to talk about. But now I can.

Take a listen to the first four songs to be released from the album and you’ll get a sense of the quality on offer.

‘Beating in My Chest’ was the first song to drop back in January … and what a drop it was. Fast, energetic, melodic and with a bass line which you’ll feel through every inch of your chest even at moderate volume.

While Oslo-based, as the saying goes, you can take the boy out of Los Angeles, but you can’t take Los Angeles out of the boy. And in singer Lizzy DeVine The Cruel Intentions have a singer with one of the most distinctive and instantly recognisable voices in rock music who embodies the sound of the Strip; quite fitting in this song to the City of Angels.

A wonderfully raw buzz cut guitar drives the second single ‘Living Out of Line’, followed by the haunting dark beauty of the acoustic ‘Wasteland’ and then the most recent single ‘All Hail Hypocrisy’. Only one line in to the title track and the sing-song gang pre-chorus “It’s alright, It’s okay” grabs you and claims you for its own before leading into another deceptively simple sing-song melody underpinning a raucous chorus. Really effective. Give the competition a chance, guys - they’ll never catch up at this rate.

Having listened to the whole album for weeks, one thing is really apparent. Pre-releasing four songs of this quality is not without risk. Other bands or labels may have held one or maybe two of them back. But there is no need when the remaining seven songs not only match, but in some cases exceed the quality of the singles. I’ll not do a track-by-track review and will leave you with some things to discover for yourselves.

But I do have to write about ‘When Eden Burn’. Starting with an unmistakably ‘80’s intro, this song is nothing short of epic. Featuring a life-affirming chorus, designed to be sung out loud, “Can’t you see we got one life, just one chance”,
“It’s one way, all you got is just you and me together against the world”.
Yes, in different hands this could be seen as schmaltzy or cheesy, but in The Cruel Intentions’ hands a massive song which John Hughes would have written a movie for if he was still alive. Or the type of chorus which will cable tie your heart and tattoo its lyrics on your brain.

Having their earlier songs featured heavily on the soundtrack to the Peacemaker, it will come as no surprise that a number of these songs have soundtrack, no - make that blockbuster soundtrack written all over them; now all we need is someone to write and make the movie worthy of the songs.

As fans of rock music, it tends to be all about the guitar. Make no mistake, Kristian Solhaug does a great job on guitar throughout, with some great riffs and melodic solos, leading on the fast and furious ‘Triple Threat’, but mostly weaving in and out and enhancing without dominating or over-powering the songs. But, I can’t remember the last time I listened to an album and one of the things which stood out most was the drums … yes, the drums (honestly, I’m not joking). Robin Nilsson (drums) and Mats Wernerson (bass) provide a formidable rhythm section. While they were solid on the band’s first two albums, they sound reborn and revitalised. But there is so much to listen to beneath the surface - no more so than Robin’s unexpected drum fills and pace of drumming. Even with regular leg days at the gym, few us could match his ferocity.

So, what this isn’t - painstakingly, or painfully (delete as appropriate), re-created retro music; pastiche; parody; or pretend-to-be-tribute. What this is - modern sleaze: raw, rocky, edgy, fast, furious, oozing attitude, mainlining melodies and insanely large choruses which you won’t forget … and thankfully without the sexism (which hasn’t travelled well) or the misogyny (which never had a place) of 80’s sleaze.

And they managed to leave the obligatory ‘Whoa-oh-oh’ until halfway through the last song.

What more can I say, but Oooofft!! … a wonderful album and as good a slice of modern (or any) sleaze as you’ll hear anywhere.

‘All Hail Hypocrisy’ will be released by Indie Recordings on 29 May 2026 on all the usual platforms.

GMcA