The 25 best albums of 2025...

23: Maruja — 'Pain to Power' You know the band is going to be great when one of the members' only jobs is to work the alto sax. For Manchester-based Maruja, having a distinctive instrument in such a specific genre (which, in their case, is noise rock) can make you either stick out or be written off as a novelty. Yellowcard managed to get some mileage out of having a violinist, but for Maruja, it's not about having a distinct sound so much as weaponizing it effectively. Think John Zorn's "Naked City" project from the early '90s, and you're in the right wheelhouse. While singer Harry Wilkinson's spoken-sung vocals are an acquired taste for some, hearing him belt out pained and sustained notes in the middle of the nearly ten-minute "Lood Down On Us" as string sections surge and Joe Carroll's infectious sax lines match him note-for-note, one can't help but be overwhelmed by the epic sense of musicality on display. "Eyes to your phone and scornful in person / Feeding to feelings are always misleading," Wilkinson rants over the tight "Break the Tension", and the paranoid wailings of the band behind him nearly justifies his lyrical Satanic panic. What's most remarkable about the band's Pain to Power is that this is their full-length debut after years of releasing EPs and stray singles, and their identity feels fully fleshed out. Given the reaction to this record so far, Maruja has quickly set themselves up as a Power-ful force to be reckoned with.