From the toilet gigs of South Wales to a sold-out show at OVO Arena Wembley in 2024, and special guests or headliners at every major Metal and rock festival, it has been a slow but ultimately incredible ascent to the top for Skindred.
Skindred – You Got This
Release Date: 17 April 2026
Words: Paul Hutchings
For me, it has always been live where the band have hit hardest, and having seen them over 20 times since those early noughties shows, they have never failed to make me smile. I have not seen them since 2024’s headline set at Steelhouse Festival, but their constant work ethic is not lost on me.
I have mates who are following them around the UK on their forthcoming tour. And not for the first time. Such is the devotion that Skindred can attract.
Whilst Smile hit the heights of the UK charts, bringing them some mainstream success and exposure, it was, to me, like most of their albums, variable in quality. Gimme That Boom certainly was the album’s earworm, and there were other tracks, like the powerful opener Our Religion, that got under the skin.
Given the band’s wild fusion of styles, I do not find it surprising that I will not like every track the band makes. Some aspects of their style veer away from what I am used to. Others grab me by the throat.
You Got This is the band’s ninth album and sees them slimmed to a trio, long-serving bassist Dan Puglsey having departed in 2025. This leaves the infectious frontman Benji Webbe, guitarist Mikey Demus and drummer Arya Goggin shouldering the release, not that we should have any doubt that they have broad enough shoulders. These boys are hardened warriors.
It has everything you expect from Skindred. Demus is a riff monster, and he carves out hundreds across the 11 tracks on offer here.
Behind the vibrancy and good time party image of the band, there is also the sensitive and emotional themes which form the foundation of the album, and which form the foundation of the band’s songwriting. They are a serious outfit underneath the showmanship.
Take the title track. Not only is it an absolute monster opener, but it has its roots in an observation from one of Benji’s regular gym sessions, where he saw a man struggling to complete his exercises as he started his rehabilitation after a stroke.
The personal trainer told him, “You got this,” and the mood completely lifted. “I was watching from a distance, and I could see the struggle and the pain, but in that moment, I knew he had got this,” recalls Benji. “It’s such an empowering statement, and it applies to so many battles that everybody faces.
“It could be a recovery from a stroke, or it could be studying for your exams at school. For me, having songs that lift people who are going through tough times is the most important thing. I feel like that’s what I’m put on this planet to do.”
He is spot on, and You Got This really hits home. It is going to be a frantic set opener on the forthcoming tours, leaving no time to ease into things, an explosive piledriver that will set venues alive.
They may be able to crush with riffage, but they also are masters of the singalong, which they will do with ease on Can I Get A. I can see the hands raised high as Benji takes on the ringmaster role each night on tour.
It is a less intense track, much more balanced, but still holding the Skindred sound. But dig deeper, and it is as much a song of reflection as many of Skindred’s songs are. Can I Get A sees Benji looking back at his poverty ridden upbringing as an orphan with his older brother, merely a child himself, taking over responsibility.
“It’s me as a child seeing my friends with all these amazing things that people take for granted that I never had,” says Benji. “I was eleven years old and was worried what my life would become. A lot of kids where I lived got into trouble and ended up in prison. I was just gonna grab that microphone and see where it would take me.
“I want to empower people to know that you can be what you want to be. Don’t spend your life worrying about what you haven’t got. Live your life because now is the time.”
We are only at track two, and already there is more emotional investment than open house day at the dog’s home. How do we move forward? Well, Born For Dis is not going to calm the nerves for sure. It is a hybrid mix of the styles we anticipate from the Dred, with a groove and cinematic scope that simply blows the mind.
“We threw the kitchen sink at that one with all this ear candy,” says Mikey, citing details ranging from a mouth harp to the whipcrack of a lasso. “We imagined we were watching a movie trailer for a weird ragga-Metal cowboy western.”
It truly is this and possesses one of the crunchiest riffs on the entire album that will get the Skindred appreciative Metalheads shaking the dandruff with more energy than might be considered necessary.
And they follow this with another huge riff-driven classic, This Is the Sound, which sees Benji in full rapping poet mode whilst the groove is another that will get entire fields bouncing across those summer festivals.
Glass, the midpoint mark on the album, sees Skindred drop the tempo and bring their reggae more to the fore, reminiscent of The Specials in part. It is another song Benji brings real emotion to, a track about those who have influenced him who are no longer here.
“A lot of people who really empowered me have passed over,” the big man says. “I know I’ve lost a piece of my heart, but they’re going to be with me for eternity for the encouragement they’ve given me. I’m never going to lose that.”
It is something that this band do well, and whether you like the style of delivery or not, the sentiment is true and honest. It is also a tribute to his late friend, the Black Roots drummer, Trevor Seivwright, who encouraged a young Benji that he could be into punk rock as well as R&B and reggae.
Throughout the album, there are hooks big enough to hold Moby Dick, the dancehall vibe that gets you moving whether you want to or not, and hard-hitting tracks that slam your face.
Big Em Up combines every aspect of the band in one curled ball of a track. It is the essence of modern-day Skindred. Similarly, Do It Like This is another that will get people jumping across Europe.
There are some weaker songs, as I would expect. Broke is not a favourite by any stretch, a tale of having no money, something the band relate to from their formative years and backgrounds, whilst I find penultimate song Give Thanks, which drops into the band’s reggae and R&B mode, another which drifts slightly.
But these are small points in an album which is more consistent for me than those that have gone before.
The band have pulled in the quality for production as well with Grammy-winning Jay Ruston, whose work spreads from Desmond Child to Corey Taylor and Mike Patton’s Mr Bungle. “It was working with someone who didn’t just stay in one lane, which is exactly what Skindred has always been about”, says Arya.
Tours are already announced, festivals booked, and it is going to be one busy year for the band. It is inevitable that it will make another assault on the UK charts, and who can begrudge them that?
This is the result of substantial hard graft over decades.
I, for one, am proud of the band and their attitude, even if they do not always grab my attention.
Skindred release You Got This on 17 April 2026 via Earache Records. Pre-orders are available from earache.lnk.to/YouGotThis. The band have also announced a major UK and Ireland headline tour in support of their new album. Tickrets are available via Skindred’s official website.
