For over 10 years, rumors about the Manchester band Maruja’s innovative and punk-inspired sound have been bubbling in the underground scene, thanks to a long series of intense shows and several strong EPs. But with their debut album Pain to Power from 2025, they have truly demonstrated that they are a band in a class of their own, combining elements of rock, punk, jazz, and hip-hop in a style that is both musically inventive and socially charged.
"In both music and message, this is surely one of the year's most important records," wrote rock magazine Kerrang! in a superlative review of the album, praising the band's boiling mix of spiritual jazz, political protest, and noisy punk ethos. And with inspirations as diverse as Rage Against The Machine, Swans, Kendrick Lamar, and Alice Coltrane, Maruja has created an expression that is unique, challenging, and captivating.
The band's concerts are also captivating, often transforming into ecstatic séances that call for unity, love and resistance in a cruel world, sending a wave of energy through the audience with punk guitar, jazzy saxophone, and poetic rap.
Experiencing Maruja live is an almost cathartic experience. Out of the band's noisy soundscape and fiery protest grows a feeling of healing presence and unity that instills hope in dark times. An experience far beyond the ordinary awaits when the band hits Roskilde Festival this summer.
