Absolva released a live album, One Night in Mannheim, on 2 October through Rocksector Records, which is their own label. The band call it a precursor to their fifteenth anniversary in 2027, which makes this the rare case of a band marking a milestone a year before it arrives rather than a year after.
How it sounds: twin guitars doing the work, tempos kept up, choruses written to be sung back, and a German club audience audible enough that the room is part of the record. That is the band's live identity and the album is not trying to be anything else.
The Manchester four piece formed in 2012 and have seven studio albums behind them, the most recent being Justice last year. They also serve as the touring and recording line-up for Blaze Bayley, which is where most listeners outside Britain will have heard them without knowing the name.
The 2026 and 2027 line-up is Christopher Appleton on guitar and vocals, Luke Appleton on bass, Tom Atkinson on guitar and Martin McNee on drums. The dates already announced start at Winters End in Trecco Bay on 30 January and run through Pentre Fest, Springfest in Blackpool, a May route through Germany, Belgium, France and Czechia that stops at the 7ER Club in Mannheim on 21 May, Call of the Wild in Lincoln, Mammoth Fest in Thessaloniki, On The Rocks in Helsinki on 31 July, three August festivals, four September shows, the British Steel Festival in Fismes on 2 October and Club Academy in Manchester on 11 December. The album is out on CD, vinyl and digital.