Maruja - Pain to Power (2025) [Hi-Res]

Album review

10 years in, it’s hard to call Maruja a “new punk sensation”, but they haven’t exactly been idle. After three tentative rock EPs and lineup changes, the quartet was formed in 2014 in Manchester by students Harry Wilkinson (singer, guitarist) and Matt Buonaccorsi (bass). They finally found their signature sound when, five years later, they were joined by drummer Jacob Haynes and saxophonist Joe Carroll. Without any formal training, being entirely self-taught and self-produced, the combo spent hours improvising and fell in love with the new British jazz scene led by Shabaka Hutchings and Nubya Garcia.It was their EP Knocknarea (2023), which mixes soaring jazz improvisations and post-punk sound with electronic influences, that first caught the attention of the British press. Then, after a string of visceral performances, the Mancunians were invited to perform on the highly prized “BBC introducing” stage at Glastonbury in 2024. They played two even bigger gigs the following year and ended up signing with the respected Music For Nations - an independent British label and adding to the label’s eclectic rock/ metal roster (Porcupine Tree, Spiritual Beggars, Opeth and Bury Tomorrow).

Maruja have amped things up with their first full-length release. More punk than ever, the Mancunians amplify Wilkinson’s unmistakable non-conformist prose in eight balanced pieces, which dive into the most elegant fringes of rock, going from garage to grunge, via heavy metal, and even verging on noise rock, while breaking into more ethereal, jazz improvisations. The tone is set right from the start of the album with the soaring Bloodsport and its bulldozer-like motorik rhythm. Then, the tension gradually unravels as the album progresses, between long experimental jams (Look Down on Us and its strained sax), bursts of punk chaos (Break the Tension, Trenches) and celestial jazz (Zaytoun). Wilkinson chants and raps his disgust for the establishment but sings for communion - as on the mournful and poetic Saoirse (meaning “freedom” in Gaelic), where the strings ease the tension, or the radiant Reconcile, which brings the album to a roaring close. A promising album which opens new paths between rock and jazz. Qobuzissime! © Charlotte Saintoin

Tracklist:
1 Bloodsport
2 Look Down On Us
3 Saoirse
4 Born to Die
5 Break the Tension
6 Trenches
7 Zaytoun
8 Reconcile