Angels Of Destruction!

Performer: Marah
Distributor: Redeye Music Distribution

Notes: A ninth album is when bands critically touted as rootsy and real are supposed to get old and throw together a warmed over platter of stale Americana. ANGELS OF DESTRUCTION was a perfect candidate for this kind of phone-in, but Brooklyn-via-Philadelphia's Marah do just the opposite by turning back the clock and uncorking an adrenaline rush of tunesmanship, energy, and, yes, all-American guitar grit. Finally having gelled as a sextet, with the newly added Christine Smith on piano and vocals, Marah stomps through a freewheeling cavalcade of styles throughout the long-player's eleven cuts. "Jesus in the Temple" recalls the White Stripes' arena stomp, while "Blue But Cool" finds singer Dave Bielanko channeling his inner Craig Finn on lines such as "Reeling from a tongue kiss on the outskirts of foreverness." References don't do this justice, however, ANGELS OF DESTRUCTION has an urgency and impact all its own.

Uncut (p.86) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[The album] sounds like one almighty road trip, barreling along to piano, blustery guitars and the odd honk of E Street sax." CMJ - "[T]heir most ambitious album yet....With more strangely confused lyrical content, more fleshed-out street character metaphors and stickier pop moves..." No Depression (p.69) - "[W]hat proves Marah is just getting revved up rather than running out of ideas is the way that ANGELS OF DESTRUCTION is loaded with outside-of-the-rock realm curveballs." Q (Magazine) (p.99) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "'Santos De Madera' echoes the woozy psychedelia of The Sleepy Jackson, and 'Wilderness' manages to include bagpipes to charming effect." Mojo (Publisher) (p.105) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Roiling rockers like the Stonesy 'Wasteland' or the quietly contemplative heartbreaker 'Blue But Cool' showcase a band familiar with life's highs and lows." Harp (magazine) (p.92) - "[E]mbossed with a host of new sonic flourishes. Christine Smith adds keyboard nuances to the Phil Spector-in-Easter Europe 'Angels on a Passing Train' and the soulful ballad 'Blue but Cool.'"

Philadelphia-bred roots-rockers Marah have had a career distinguished by two things: one, an unselfconsciously classic-rock approach to their craft that, since the mid-1990s, has bucked any of the trends of the day; and two, an ability to attract powerful champions while maintaining indie cred. Formed around the nucleus of brothers Dave and Serge Bielanko, the band released their first album on a small label in '98, and got the attention of Steve Earle, who released the follow-up on his E-Squared Records. Oasis producer Owen Morris, generally reluctant to work with Americans, helmed the next album, on which Bruce Springsteen guested, and writers Nick Hornby and Stephen King have both raved in print about their music. Despite all the public praise, by their eighth studio release in 2008 the band was still proudly independent.

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