Marah opened 2008 with its finest album to date, Angels of Destruction — a title that proved apocryphal because shortly after its release, the band imploded. Formed near Philadelphia by Dave Bielanko in 1993, with brother Serge joining a couple of years later, Marah grew into a bastard blend of white-boy soul and shambling, folk-garage swing with enough fevered indie chunk to crush several cases of PBR. The band scored guest vocals by the Boss and a New York Times mash note from Nick Hornby while earning a well-deserved live reputation. With six solid-to-great albums and plenty of buzz, Marah seemed poised for bigger things, but shortly after Angels' release, half the band mutinied, leaving the brothers alone with newest member, keyboardist Christine Smith. After a European tour with a new rhythm section, Serge dropped out as well to have a kid. Now a quartet and almost a year after the album's release, Marah is finally getting to show off Angels stateside.
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