Rocktrospectiva: The Career-Defining "Marks To Prove It" Turns 10

Released 31 July 2025 "Marks To Prove It" was the 4th., and final studio album by the English band The Maccabees, the album peaked on No. 1 in the UK and spawned three singles "Marks To Prove It", "Something Like Happiness" & "Spit It Out".

The album was recorded in the band's studio in Elephant and Castle and throught its 41 minutes pays tribute to the area, including the album cover being of the Michael Faraday Memorial that is near the studio. Marks to Prove It, took two and half years to complete, this album is an amalgamation of the Maccabees' previous slush indie pop sound –  from Colour It In and then the stronger Wall of Arms – and the sailing, mystifying and altogether more layered sound of Given to the Wild. 

The product of such a combination has left a suite painted seriously with concerns of texture, pace and maturity; it was an album that took us out at twilight, throws us into the depths of the night with all its endeavours and its heartbreaks, and then hails us the night-bus all the way back until dawn and its insight.

From the opener "Marks to Prove It", placed the listener up for a teeth­grittingly fast ride; jagged guitars and staccato piano keys bounce around, while the sound clutches at the seams of the record as it cascades forward into the body of the album; the album had nothing of its predecessors, and this song was nothing like its forbearers. Influenced by the beginnings of gentrification of the transport system at Elephant & Castle – the roundabout of which is adorned on the album cover – the album addresses the more matured outlooks upon themes such as love and its loss, the quiet inevitability of the passing of age and time; it monopolizes the grasping but not quite reaching of something to hold onto whilst everything changes, and this era silently moves into the next.

Other remarkable tracks were "Kamakura" explosive choruses that gave sense to its sound of easy rhythm, "Ribbon Road" was another genius cut, "WWI Portraits" was inspired y the Imperial War Museum located in the surrounded areas of Elephant, then "Spit it Out" showed a powerful face of the band,  

The album was mature in both its sound and its lyricism. The Maccabees wandered into unknown territory with touches of jazz and blues from a brass addition, quasi-militant waltzes and discordant layering, as well as the addition of quieter piano-centred tracks like in "Pioneering Systems". There too were switched up vocals, with Hugo sang on "Silence" and lyrics recorded in one take on "Dawn Chorus". There was something distinctly raw, dark and slightly violent on the edges of even the most beautiful moments in the work; a deft and swift sadness shakes all the songs.  

Looking at the back catalogue of albums from the Maccabees was reminiscent of reading old private diaries; observing as the personal outlooks upon life progress all the way from boyhood through adolescence to manhood. Then Marks to Prove It is the musings of men in their late twenties, not the. It was a testament to the war wounds and love wounds inflicted over the years; the insight that experience gives; the heartbreak of time. In it, romanticising has been firmly moved aside, gentrification has been reacted to by resolute solidarity of men against change.

The Maccabees have proven themselves as unique, multi-talented and highly skilled band on this album, which was honest, humble, and quietly astounding. It was their career-defining; real artistry. Beauttiful way to end its career. 

 

Marks To Prove It Track List:  

 

1. Marks To Prove It

2. Kamasura

3. Ribbon Road

4. Spit It Out

5. Silence

6. River Song

7. Slow Sun

8. Something Like Happiness

9. WW1 Portraits 

10. Pioneering Systems

11. Dawn Chorus