Hi, everyone. Painthony Powtano here, the internet's stuffiest music nerd. Today, it's time for a review of the new Maruja record, Pain to Power.

Here we have the debut full-length studio LP of Manchester band, Maruja. And while this album and a lot of the buzz around the band currently is new, the band itself is not new. In fact, they've been around for years and years and years under a few different lineups and mixes of influences.

But as I found out in a recent interview with the band, as the world grew darker and the politics around them became much more grim, the band coalesced around this sax-led strain of post and art rock with a bit of an experimental edge, too. It led to some breakout EPs like 2023's Knocknarea, as well as the following, Connla's Well in 2024, releases that instantly turned the band into an underground sensation.

Excitement for an eventual album this year began to reach a fever pitch, especially given the band had a great feature on the recent Quadeca record that a lot of fans seem to love this year. And Maruja also continued to build up anticipation, not just with a series of thrilling live shows, but also some additional releases that were instrumental and even improvisational in nature that showcase just how much better their creative chemistry was getting.

But even with all of that lead up, none of this really prepared me for what I was about to hear on this new album here, because not only does the band's sound get quite a bit more intense on this project, but many of the instrumental passages on this record have gotten more ambitious and grandiose, too. The politics and messaging more bold, occasionally more radical.

Sometimes Maruja is experimenting a bit with doing some hip hop stuff. Our first taste, of which came in the form of the 10-minute lead single, "Look Down On Us", which is this thunderous multi-phase diatribe of a track that starts off sounding like really some dystopian rap rock, complete with blaring horns, booming drums, and some griny, distorted bass licks, too. Thematically, this track opens up a clear shot across the bow toward the rich, the powerful, corporations, those that actually pull the levers of influence in society.

But this very aggressive messaging eventually develops into this grandiose ascent of guitars, sacks and strings, leading into a second phase that contains a lot more nuance and food for thought, and in a way, tries to redirect all of this righteous indignation and anger away from ourselves and each other, and instead is pushing it upward. It's like a whole rerouting and rewiring of the us-v-them mentality that seems to dominate so much of our politics now, but divides us among ourselves more than it does us from those who are actually ruining our lives.

Now, there are other singles and teasers that dropped before the album came out, but I think from here I would like to start and take things from the beginning because the progression of this record is actually so good, and it seems like the band put a lot of thought into the way the music and messaging moves across the project, because the opening song, "Bloodsport", is this fast, rowdy fusion of jazz rock and noise rock that just really begins the record with both guns blazing. Plus, there's also this oddly mystical bridge with what sounds like some faint reggaeton grooves going on in the background that's paired with some vaguely exotic sax runs.

The messaging on this track links pretty directly into what the band is talking about on "Look Down On Us", talking about how people are complicit in crossfire and there's no vision. It's shocking like a live wire, commenting on the disarray of all the anger and vitriol and confusion and anguish and pain and fear that people are collectively feeling right now. As the verse lyrics on this track illustrate what feels like an all-out battle, a growing hostility among ourselves, and the power it takes to look inward and be self-critical instead and see the addiction to all of this hate and division drama for what it is. Then after this, we move into "Look Down on Us" that I mentioned earlier.

After that is "Saoirse", which is a moody ballad with a great build, and the message, the mantra on this track is clear. Again, it's a track that's trying to ease interpersonal tensions between average people, basically uttering the message, communicating the message that it's our differences that make us beautiful. Track is in this 3/4 groove with a great sway to it. Loose drums, dreary guitars, sounds like an old-school emo low-key number, but with some random sax passages that are somehow fitting. It all comes together into yet another great, powerful finish, like many tracks on this album do, because the band just has this incredible instrumental rapport with one another that allows them to grow and move these songs along in such a way to where there's not any obvious cues or breaks that usher in a bit more intensity or an immediate change or anything like that.

It's all so subtle and gradual, despite it all ending off in a place that feels like such a bold contrast from where the song starts, which for me is really one of the most major selling points of the album, just how good and organic and quality the musical chemistry is between all the members of the band.

After this, we have "Born to Die", which is another 10-minute monster in the tracklist. Sadly, not a Lana Del Rey It's more of a droning spoken word piece. Yes, it is a bit on the lengthier side, but it does build up into this incredible, noisy experimental rock finish that feels deeply inspired by bands like Swans. And yet somehow it transitions into some '90s alt rock riffs that are a bit Jane's Addiction-inspired, I would say, before going back into the guitars that kicked this more heavy and immense passage off in the first place.

After this, we have the very fiery "Break the Tension", which has some cinematic spacey production surrounding all the instrumentation here, which is a bold contrast from how claustrophobic and noisy and distorted the track sounds in the end, especially with this one endlessly wailing tone that sounds like an infinite scream. And this track, once again, speaks to this idea of a broad cultural anger and dissatisfaction that's not being alleviated, the tension that is being spoken about on this track. There's nothing breaking it or changing it. There's nowhere for the anger and the vitriol and the momentum being created by our collective mass psychosis to channel.

But I suppose the following track, "Trenches", does try to provide some place for that all to go, as it is a vague bit of advocacy for us all to get out there in real life and actually create the change that we want to see. Now, I will say this song really stands out in the rest of the tracklist as it does seem to be the biggest and most obvious embrace of a rap rock direction, even more so than "Look Down On Us". But the loose drums and squawking guitars and some of the awkwardly, I'll say, parsed-out bars, they all leave a little bit to be desired. In addition to that, some of the lyrics here and there do almost border on what I would expect from an Instagram reels hippie rap song. But it's not like the track sticks out like the sorest of thumbs in the tracklist, and it's certainly a better effort at creating this genre combination than some recent stuff I've heard.

"Zaytoun" after this, is a very low-key, moody tension builder to set things up for the finale on the album, "Reconcile", which is a parting message that, in a lot of ways, begins like many a track off of this record. You've got those bustling drums and rock guitars and spoken word passages. Off the bat, it does feel like the band is trying to end this album off with a very strong performance and strong statement, but I feel like they haven't varied it up enough, at least in the first leg, to really make it feel like we are nearing an exciting and must-hear endpoint. As again, this literal sound and instrumental makeup has lost a bit of novelty as we inch toward the final moments of this album.

I will say in addition to that, lyrically speaking, I was hoping for some stronger conclusions to be had toward the end of this record than praying for love and letting go of fear. For sure, there are some lyrical gems to be had, like, "Misinformed by our pain / We're connected by the same different versions of ourselves / That yearn to feel okay." That's poignant for sure. Can't deny that. But I feel like that idea has more or less been touched down upon earlier on the album in a couple of ways.

In addition to this, one of the only other main parting thoughts on this track is that we're really believing in the power of music here to make some impact or change or to communicate the feelings and ideas that we're trying to get out there but maybe aren't quite landing in this time of current chaos.

I will say the one major saving grace about this final track is that the progression and instrumental presentation of it all is actually quite immense. There's also quite a bit of delay-soaked guitar lines and riffs that feel quite Pink Floyd-inspired. Then in addition to that, there's quite a few vocal harmony layers in the mix toward the back end of the song as the drums and guitars are just all blaring with a lot of heavy layers. It really all fuses together into this massive brick of sound for a crushing finish.

Even if I thought this record started a lot stronger than it ended overall, I still loved it quite a bit, and got most of what I was hoping for from it as a debut, a debut that had a lot of high expectations going into it from me and a lot of fans, which is why I'm feeling a light to decent 8 on this one.

Anthony Fantano, Maruja, forever.