In Manchester, a city still haunted by the ghosts of Joy Division and the post-punk poses of the past, it isn’t easy to invent something new. Maruja have been trying for more than a decade, through lineup changes, nights at Brixton’s Windmill, and a string of independent EPs that introduced them as a noisy, improvisational band, with Joe Carroll’s howling saxophone tearing through the mix. Finally, in 2025, with the support of Music for Nations, comes Pain to Power, their first proper album: eight tracks attempting to channel their chaotic live energy into a studio recording.
The record opens with Bloodsport, a headfirst dive into rap-rock and wailing sax, as if to shout: “We’re here.” The energy is undeniable, and when the band lean into improvisation (Born to Die, Look Down on Us), they capture that trance-like intensity that made their shows cult events. The quieter passages, like Saoirse and Reconcile, give the album breathing space and show they can slow down without losing force. This push and pull — calm versus fury, suspension versus explosion — works well.
The trouble is that, after a while, everything starts to blur together. Song structures repeat, crescendos become predictable, and the sax — meant to be their secret weapon — ends up feeling like a mandatory insert. To make matters worse, the production compresses and flattens the sound, losing the clarity a record like this needs. Lyrically too, while their intentions are noble, the words often drift toward the generic: “our differences make us beautiful,” “unity against division.” These are broad strokes that risk sounding more like motivational posters than visceral storytelling.
Pain to Power is not a misstep, though. It proves Maruja have ideas, energy, and a genuine urge to confront the present, even if they don’t always know how to shape that rage and sensitivity into something sharper, more original. At times it burns bright, at others it stumbles into redundancy. Still, it’s a debut worth hearing, because it feels authentic and suggests a band with huge room to grow.